Best Public Schools in Naperville, IL

Naperville’s area summary counts 40 schools—28 elementary, 8 middle and 4 high—while the supplied records cover 39: 27 elementary, 8 middle and 4 high, serving students from elementary through high school. Overall results are above state levels: the elementary-school averages are 77% in ELA and 70% in math, respectively 21 and 31 percentage points above state rates; the three high schools with reported ACT results also exceed state rates by 30 points in ELA, 35 in math and 31 in science. The biggest takeaway for families is that strong area-wide results mask especially wide differences among elementary schools.

At the top, Meadow Glens leads elementary ELA at 93%, while Highlands leads math at 89%. At the other end, Longwood scores 28% in ELA and 23% in math—49 and 47 points below the elementary averages. Middle-school results are more closely grouped: Gordon Gregory leads ELA at 86%, and Clifford Crone leads math at 73%; Thayer J Hill is lowest at 72% in ELA and 52% in math. Among high schools, Neuqua Valley leads ACT ELA and math at 86% and 79%. SchoolDigger’s 2025–2026 rankings also place Meadow Glens 14th of 1,737 elementary schools and Highlands 15th, while Longwood is 1,604th.

Recent elementary averages moved in different directions: ELA rose by 1 point from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while math fell by 2 points, even as the average school-to-state gap narrowed in both subjects. Middle-school averages rose by 2 points in each subject. Income figures offer context, not an explanation: the measure reported is free/reduced lunch eligible for 2024–2025; Longwood is at 49%, while Mill Street is at 35% and scores 84% in ELA and 72% in math. These results show why families may want to compare individual schools and subjects rather than rely on area averages alone.