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

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

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
1021	Norris City-Omaha Elementary School	Public	K-8	580 US HWY 45 South	Norris City	62869	White County	Norris City-Omaha-Enfield CUSD 3	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(618) 378-3212	416	30	13.9	54.8%	395 (95.0%)	1 (0.2%)	5 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (3.6%)	$12,876			$1,082			$11,794	24.6	21.3	1074	53		170000403009
1022	Ogden Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	24 W Walton St	Chicago	60610	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-8110	819	4	204.7	55.2%	141 (17.2%)	369 (45.1%)	166 (20.3%)	71 (8.7%)	3 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (8.4%)	$18,920			$2,253			$16,667	24.5	26	982	40		170993001003
1023	Richardson Middle School	Public	5-8	6018 S Karlov Ave	Chicago	60629	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-8640	844	57	14.8	87.8%	11 (1.3%)	7 (0.8%)	824 (97.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	$17,518			$2,601			$14,917	24.5	35.6	807	216		170993006398
1024	MacArthur Middle School	Public	6-8	1310 N Wolf Rd	Berkeley	60163	Cook County	Berkeley School District 87	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(708) 449-3185	357	29	12.3	75.9%	9 (2.5%)	152 (42.6%)	189 (52.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.7%)	$22,179			$732			$21,447	24.3	24.8	1006	18		170600000279
1025	Talcott Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	1840 W Ohio St	Chicago	60622	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-7130	487	36	13.7	71.3%	46 (9.4%)	21 (4.3%)	405 (83.2%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.5%)	$20,989			$2,723			$18,266	24.3	30.3	899	126		170993000964
1026	A-C Central Middle School	Public	5-8	601 W Buchanan St	Ashland	62612	Cass County	A-C Central CUSD 262	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(217) 476-3312	89	7	12.2	41.6%	84 (94.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (4.5%)	$15,738			$548			$15,189	24.3	17.5	1166	140		170010500245
1027	Sawyer Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5248 S Sawyer Ave	Chicago	60632	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-0440	885	58	15.3	95.9%	17 (1.9%)	2 (0.2%)	857 (96.8%)	2 (0.2%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.3%)	$17,180			$2,337			$14,843	24.2	26	983	44		170993001068
1028	Washington H Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	9130 S University Ave	Chicago	60619	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-6225	273	23	11.8	96.0%	0 (0.0%)	247 (90.5%)	20 (7.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.2%)	$22,281			$2,556			$19,725	24.2	33.5	845	183		170993001031
1029	Courtenay Elementary Language Arts Center	Public	PK, KG-8	4420 N Beacon St	Chicago	60640	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-5790	266	33	8.1	92.9%	21 (7.9%)	94 (35.3%)	128 (48.1%)	9 (3.4%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.9%)	$34,804			$5,755			$29,049	24	16.3	1193	164		170993000914
1030	Lara Elementary Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	4619 S Wolcott Ave	Chicago	60609	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-4389	362	34	10.6	91.4%	4 (1.1%)	18 (5.0%)	335 (92.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.1%)	$24,606			$2,957			$21,648	23.7	22.9	1042	12		170993001612

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, 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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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

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.