Best Middle Schools in Illinois

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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 ISA and IAR test scores by the Illinois State Board of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 1368)	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 (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
1271	Kanoon Elementary Magnet School	Public	PK, KG-8	2233 S Kedzie Ave	Chicago	60623	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-1736	389	31	12.4	93.8%	2 (0.5%)	16 (4.1%)	365 (93.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$20,801			$3,011			$17,790	12.2	13.6	1255	16		170993000787
1272	CICS - Longwood Campus	Public, Charter, Alternative	3-12	1309 W 95th St	Chicago	60643	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(773) 238-5330	1,137	71	16	86.1%	1 (0.1%)	1,105 (97.2%)	22 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (0.8%)	$18,430			$1,722			$16,708	12.2	13.1	1263	9		170993006438
1273	Oglesby Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	7646 S Green St	Chicago	60620	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-3060	293	20	14.6	76.5%	3 (1.0%)	269 (91.8%)	19 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	$19,776			$3,179			$16,597	12.2	10.6	1327	54		170993001004
1274	Northwest Middle School	Public	6-8	5252 W Palmer St	Chicago	60639	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-3250	532	39	13.8	89.8%	12 (2.3%)	11 (2.1%)	504 (94.7%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$19,053			$2,406			$16,647	12.1	15.2	1224	50		170993003567
1275	Rowe Elementary	Public, Charter	K-8	1424 N Cleaver St	Chicago	60642	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 799-2730	617	39	15.8	68.4%	12 (1.9%)	148 (24.0%)	401 (65.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	54 (8.8%)	$7,815			$1,607			$6,208	12	14.4	1239	36		170993006142
1276	Miguel Juarez Middle School	Public	6-8	201 N Butrick St	Waukegan	60085	Lake County	Waukegan CUSD 60	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(224) 303-2660	651	61	10.6	69.6%	14 (2.2%)	66 (10.1%)	543 (83.4%)	10 (1.5%)	5 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	12 (1.8%)	$22,276			$1,596			$20,680	12	10.9	1317	41		174125001753
1277	Rickover Junior High School	Public	6-8	22151 Torrence Ave	Sauk Village	60411	Cook County	Ccsd 168	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(708) 758-1900	371	15	24.7	51.5%	10 (2.7%)	270 (72.8%)	72 (19.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	17 (4.6%)	$23,040			$2,660			$20,380	11.9	14.2	1244	33		173546003698
1278	U S Grant Middle School	Public	6-8	1800 W Monroe St	Springfield	62704	Sangamon County	Springfield School District 186	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(217) 525-3170	498	46	10.9	72.1%	151 (30.3%)	262 (52.6%)	15 (3.0%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	65 (13.1%)	$23,059			$2,144			$20,915	11.9	14.2	1247	31		173708003841
1279	Chopin Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2450 W Rice St	Chicago	60622	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-4080	323	32	10.2	90.4%	51 (15.8%)	101 (31.3%)	163 (50.5%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.5%)	$26,709			$4,026			$22,683	11.8	14.2	1243	36		170993000697
1280	Dvorak Technology Academy Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	3615 W 16th St	Chicago	60623	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-1690	276	25	11.2	88.8%	2 (0.7%)	219 (79.3%)	52 (18.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.1%)	$21,487			$3,207			$18,279	11.8	14.2	1242	38		170993000737

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on IAR English Language Arts, IAR Mathematics, ISA Science test scores released by the Illinois State Board of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 30, 2025, 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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

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.