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
1201	Johns Hill Magnet School	Public	K-8	1025 E Johns Ave	Decatur	62521	Macon County	Decatur School District 61	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(217) 362-3350	627	41	15.2	79.7%	97 (15.5%)	248 (39.6%)	190 (30.3%)	22 (3.5%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	68 (10.8%)	$18,151			$2,446			$15,705	15.8	15.4	1221	20		171185005156
1202	Volta Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4950 N Avers Ave	Chicago	60625	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-5080	739	53	14	90.8%	36 (4.9%)	19 (2.6%)	477 (64.5%)	189 (25.6%)	4 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (1.9%)	$17,853			$3,097			$14,756	15.7	17	1177	25		170993001138
1203	Howe Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	720 N Lorel Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-6060	341	31	10.9	82.7%	7 (2.1%)	267 (78.3%)	66 (19.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$21,845			$3,453			$18,392	15.7	24.4	1011	192		170993000862
1204	Kellman Corporate Community Elementary	Public	PK, KG-8	3030 W Arthington St	Chicago	60612	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-6602	209	21	9.9	95.2%	0 (0.0%)	195 (93.3%)	13 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$25,884			$4,205			$21,679	15.6	10.6	1325	121		170993000760
1205	McKay Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	6901 S Fairfield Ave	Chicago	60629	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-9340	616	45	13.7	96.8%	12 (1.9%)	277 (45.0%)	320 (51.9%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.5%)	$19,193			$2,589			$16,604	15.6	20.6	1086	119		170993000958
1206	Jack Benny Middle School	Public	6-8	1401 Montesano Ave	Waukegan	60087	Lake County	Waukegan CUSD 60	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(224) 303-2470	475	38	12.5	62.1%	19 (4.0%)	47 (9.9%)	357 (75.2%)	34 (7.2%)	7 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.3%)	$21,158			$1,607			$19,551	15.5	13.8	1252	46		174125004131
1207	Schmid Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	9755 S Greenwood Ave	Chicago	60628	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-6235	195	25	7.8	97.9%	3 (1.5%)	180 (92.3%)	12 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$28,028			$4,351			$23,677	15.4	34.1	834	373		170993001077
1208	Ellington Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	243 N Parkside Ave	Chicago	60644	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-6361	510	40	12.9	95.1%	0 (0.0%)	422 (82.7%)	81 (15.9%)	2 (0.4%)	3 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$20,830			$2,418			$18,412	15.4	12.9	1266	58		170993000748
1209	Clinton Rosette Middle School	Public	6-8	650 N 1st St	DeKalb	60115	DeKalb County	DeKalb CUSD 428	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(815) 754-2226	575	47	12.1	74.1%	151 (26.3%)	149 (25.9%)	225 (39.1%)	9 (1.6%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	39 (6.8%)	$19,853			$1,099			$18,754	15.4	17.1	1175	34		171200006601
1210	Irving Middle School	Public	5-8	805 S 17th Ave	Maywood	60153	Cook County	Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview 89	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(708) 450-2015	515	41	12.5	64.3%	2 (0.4%)	324 (62.9%)	176 (34.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.5%)	$23,479			$1,648			$21,831	15.4	20	1098	112		172511006426

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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

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.