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
201	Virgil I Grissom Middle School	Public	6-8	17000 80th Ave	Tinley Park	60477	Cook County	Kirby School District 140	No	(n/a)	No	No	(708) 429-3030	627	50	12.5		436 (69.5%)	35 (5.6%)	99 (15.8%)	32 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	23 (3.7%)	$17,918			$390			$17,528	83.3	86.4	154	47		172127002402
202	Northwood Middle School	Public	6-8	945 North Ave	Highland Park	60035	Lake County	North Shore School District 112	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(224) 765-3600	540	51	10.5	37.2%	248 (45.9%)	8 (1.5%)	232 (43.0%)	16 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	35 (6.5%)	$25,586			$567			$25,019	83.3	72	324	122		170011902198
203	Ebinger Elementary School	Public	K-8	7350 W Pratt Ave	Chicago	60631	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-1070	693	49	14.2	14.7%	537 (77.5%)	11 (1.6%)	86 (12.4%)	33 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	25 (3.6%)	$17,382			$1,619			$15,763	83.3	80.9	218	15		170993000741
204	Tremont Middle School	Public	5-8	400 W Pearl St	Tremont	61568	Tazewell County	Tremont CUSD 702	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(309) 925-3823	291	19	15.6	18.9%	265 (91.1%)	6 (2.1%)	8 (2.7%)	3 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (3.1%)	$12,076			$431			$11,645	83.2	72.4	317	113		173939003984
205	Nettelhorst Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	3252 N Broadway St	Chicago	60657	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-5810	653	45	14.5	19.3%	358 (54.8%)	51 (7.8%)	98 (15.0%)	68 (10.4%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	76 (11.6%)	$17,843			$1,248			$16,595	83.2	88.1	133	72		170993000988
206	Edison Park Elementary School	Public	K-8	6220 N Olcott Ave	Chicago	60631	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-0960	411	36	11.4	13.1%	278 (67.6%)	6 (1.5%)	99 (24.1%)	16 (3.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.7%)	$24,342			$1,681			$22,661	83.2	67.7	368	162		170993005985
207	Oriole Park Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5424 N Oketo Ave	Chicago	60656	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-1201	617	47	13.1	24.5%	373 (60.5%)	13 (2.1%)	166 (26.9%)	43 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (3.6%)	$17,595			$1,123			$16,472	83.1	84.8	176	31		170993001010
208	Waterloo Junior High School	Public	6-8	200 Bellefontaine Dr	Waterloo	62298	Monroe County	Waterloo CUSD 5	No	(n/a)	No	No	(618) 939-3457	613	36	17	18.3%	576 (94.0%)	2 (0.3%)	18 (2.9%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.1%)	$11,433			$483			$10,950	83.1	88.3	130	78		174107004112
209	Lexington Junior High School	Public	6-8	100 E Wall St	Lexington	61753	McLean County	Lexington CUSD 7	No	(n/a)	No	No	(309) 365-2711	110	7	16.2	15.5%	101 (91.8%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.6%)	$12,431			$121			$12,310	82.9	69.9	346	137		172271002518
210	Century Junior High School	Public	6-8	10801 W 159th St	Orland Park	60467	Cook County	Orland School District 135	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(708) 364-3506	636	49	13		427 (67.1%)	59 (9.3%)	73 (11.5%)	54 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (3.6%)	$18,548			$517			$18,030	82.6	81.3	213	3		173022001597

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

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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, 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:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.