Best Middle Schools in Illinois

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

Find the best Illinois middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Illinois test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the IAR test scores by the Illinois State Board of Education. The most recent update was on Wednesday, October 30, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 1363)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
170993001080	1201	Seward Elementary Communication Arts Ac	Public	PK, KG-8	4600 S Hermitage Ave	Chicago	60609	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-4890	416	32	13	98.8%	5 (1.2%)	8 (1.9%)	399 (95.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	$20,812			$3,814			$16,998	16	21.9	1074	127
173630005774	1202	Colin Powell Middle School	Public	6-8	20600 Matteson Ave	Matteson	60443	Cook County	Education Service District 159	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(708) 283-9600	571	44	12.9	65.3%	7 (1.2%)	487 (85.3%)	55 (9.6%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (3.5%)	$25,413			$650			$24,763	16	30.8	901	301
170993001019	1203	Parker Elementary Community Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	6800 S Stewart Ave	Chicago	60621	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-3375	358	29	12.3	94.7%	1 (0.3%)	344 (96.1%)	12 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$24,750			$4,258			$20,492	16	17.7	1166	37
170993001607	1204	Ariel Elementary Community Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	1119 E 46th St	Chicago	60653	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-1996	352	31	11.5	83.0%	1 (0.3%)	338 (96.0%)	9 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.1%)	$23,377			$3,106			$20,271	16	18.3	1149	55
170993000911	1205	Lewis Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1431 N Leamington Ave	Chicago	60651	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 534-3060	423	33	13	96.9%	0 (0.0%)	223 (52.7%)	196 (46.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.7%)	$20,224			$3,472			$16,752	16	11.9	1306	101
173451005448	1206	West Middle School	Public	6-8	1900 N Rockton Ave	Rockford	61103	Winnebago County	Rockford School District 205	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(815) 966-3200	794	49	16.1	79.6%	175 (22.0%)	397 (50.0%)	117 (14.7%)	6 (0.8%)	5 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	94 (11.8%)	$18,511			$1,481			$17,030	15.9	14.4	1247	41
171179001392	1207	North Ridge Middle School	Public	7-8	1619 N Jackson St	Danville	61832	Vermilion County	Danville CCSD 118	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(217) 444-3400	697	36	19.3	85.1%	200 (28.7%)	323 (46.3%)	83 (11.9%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	87 (12.5%)	$19,996			$5,749			$14,247	15.9	16.5	1189	18
170993006221	1208	Montessori of Englewood Charter Elementary School	Public, Charter	PK, KG-8	6936 S Hermitage Ave	Chicago	60636	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(773) 535-9255	334	0		97.3%	3 (0.9%)	264 (79.0%)	67 (20.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,053			$175			$18,878	15.9	19.3	1130	78
173048003169	1209	Palestine Grade School	Public	PK, KG-8	205 S Washington St	Palestine	62451	Crawford County	Palestine CUSD 3	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	Yes	(618) 586-2711	256	22	11.5	55.9%	246 (96.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.8%)	3 (1.2%)	$15,354			$758			$14,596	15.9	34.7	849	360
171332003243	1210	East St Louis-Lincoln Middle School	Public	5-8	12 S 10th St	East Saint Louis	62201	St. Clair County	East St Louis School District 189	No	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(618) 646-3770	400	49	8.1	98.3%	3 (0.8%)	397 (99.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$32,080			$8,358			$23,722	15.8	13.7	1258	48

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for IL student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Disabled Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on IAR English Language Arts, IAR Mathematics test scores released by the Illinois State Board of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 30, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Illinois State Board of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education.