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
1261	Acero Charter - Bartolome de las	Public, Charter	K-8	1641 W 16th St	Chicago	60608	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(312) 432-3224	225	17	13.2	88.4%	2 (0.9%)	6 (2.7%)	216 (96.0%)	1 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,987			$1,381			$23,606	12.7	22	1059	202		170993006448
1262	North Ridge Middle School	Public	7-8	1619 N Jackson St	Danville	61832	Vermilion County	Danville CCSD 118	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(217) 444-3400	740	35	21.1	88.2%	211 (28.5%)	355 (48.0%)	78 (10.5%)	5 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	90 (12.2%)	$18,654			$2,903			$15,751	12.7	15.9	1207	55		171179001392
1263	Henry W Cowherd Middle School	Public	6-8	441 N Farnsworth Ave	Aurora	60505	Kane County	Aurora East Unified School District 131	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(630) 299-5900	807	62	13	67.0%	16 (2.0%)	104 (12.9%)	671 (83.1%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	11 (1.4%)	$19,816			$2,209			$17,607	12.7	15.1	1228	35		170468000040
1264	Abraham Lincoln Middle School	Public	6-8	1500 Charles St	Rockford	61104	Winnebago County	Rockford School District 205	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(815) 229-2400	736	42	17.3	80.2%	113 (15.4%)	302 (41.0%)	213 (28.9%)	37 (5.0%)	3 (0.4%)	1 (0.1%)	67 (9.1%)	$16,788			$1,417			$15,371	12.6	14.7	1235	29		173451003558
1265	Gregory Math & Sci Elementary Academy	Public	PK, KG-8	3715 W Polk St	Chicago	60624	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-6820	287	21	14	91.3%	0 (0.0%)	259 (90.2%)	27 (9.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$22,531			$2,167			$20,364	12.5	20.4	1088	177		170993000807
1266	KIPP Academy Chicago Campus	Public, Charter	K-8	4818 W Ohio St	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(773) 938-8553	649	4	162.2	93.8%	0 (0.0%)	558 (86.0%)	81 (12.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (1.5%)	$22,854			$1,420			$21,434	12.5	17.1	1174	92		170993006477
1267	Westcott Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	409 W 80th St	Chicago	60620	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-3090	387	31	12.6	76.7%	1 (0.3%)	360 (93.0%)	22 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,550			$2,618			$18,933	12.5	13.4	1258	9		170993001151
1268	Hughes C Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4247 W 15th St	Chicago	60623	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-1762	169	19	9.1	90.5%	0 (0.0%)	122 (72.2%)	45 (26.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.2%)	$28,245			$3,993			$24,252	12.4	19.3	1110	158		170993000865
1269	Robert E Abbott Middle School	Public	6-8	1319 Washington St	Waukegan	60085	Lake County	Waukegan CUSD 60	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(224) 303-2360	585	49	11.9	71.1%	14 (2.4%)	37 (6.3%)	523 (89.4%)	4 (0.7%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (0.9%)	$21,327			$1,293			$20,034	12.3	14.8	1232	37		174125000206
1270	Finkl Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2332 S Western Ave	Chicago	60608	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-5850	240	33	7.2	87.9%	9 (3.8%)	37 (15.4%)	190 (79.2%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	1 (0.4%)	$35,159			$3,529			$31,630	12.2	28.9	924	346		170993001351

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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:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.