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
601	Midwest Central Middle School	Public	6-8	121 N Church St	Green Valley	61534	Tazewell County	Midwest Central CUSD 191	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(309) 352-2300	183	16	11.4	47.5%	173 (94.5%)	2 (1.1%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.3%)	$14,441			$553			$13,888	51.4	46	657	56		174396201455
602	Harrisburg Middle School	Public	6-8	312 Bulldog Blvd	Harrisburg	62946	Saline County	Harrisburg CUSD 3	No	(n/a)	No	No	(618) 253-7637	382	32	11.9	66.0%	317 (83.0%)	19 (5.0%)	15 (3.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (7.9%)	$13,559			$494			$13,065	51.4	56	513	89		171827002116
603	Wolcott School	Public	PK, KG-8	200 N Wolcott St	Thornton	60476	Cook County	Thornton School District 154	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(708) 877-2526	249	14	17.7	57.8%	42 (16.9%)	77 (30.9%)	114 (45.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (6.4%)	$17,707			$2,827			$14,880	51.4	53.9	542	61		173891005071
604	Palmer Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	5051 N Kenneth Ave	Chicago	60630	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-3704	746	53	14	64.9%	278 (37.3%)	17 (2.3%)	299 (40.1%)	119 (16.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (0.4%)	30 (4.0%)	$17,899			$2,086			$15,813	51.3	59.3	457	147		170993001017
605	Red Hill Junior/Senior High School	Public	7-12	908 Church St	Bridgeport	62417	Lawrence County	Red Hill CUSD 10	No	(n/a)	No	No	(618) 945-2521	396	27	14.8	57.8%	383 (96.7%)	1 (0.3%)	7 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.0%)	$12,345			$528			$11,818	51.3	45.1	666	61		172213005283
606	Herget Middle School	Public	6-8	1550 Deerpath Rd	Aurora	60506	Kane County	Aurora West Unified School District 129	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(630) 301-5006	594	41	14.4	50.0%	171 (28.8%)	49 (8.2%)	331 (55.7%)	17 (2.9%)	1 (0.2%)	3 (0.5%)	22 (3.7%)	$19,344			$1,625			$17,719	51.2	46.4	648	42		170471005616
607	Pickard Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2301 W 21st Pl	Chicago	60608	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-7280	319	30	10.6	90.6%	13 (4.1%)	18 (5.6%)	287 (90.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$24,152			$2,799			$21,354	51.2	43.9	690	83		170993001034
608	Webster Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	4055 W Arthington St	Chicago	60624	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-6925	183	16	11.4	88.5%	0 (0.0%)	179 (97.8%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.1%)	$30,496			$5,241			$25,255	51.2	42.7	708	100		170993001148
609	Steeleville Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	609 S Sparta St	Steeleville	62288	Randolph County	Steeleville CUSD 138	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(618) 965-3469	323	21	15.2	43.0%	285 (88.2%)	2 (0.6%)	22 (6.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (4.0%)	$11,663			$537			$11,126	51.1	59.9	449	160		173765003878
610	Gavin South Middle School	Public	5-8	25775 W IL Route 134	Ingleside	60041	Lake County	Gavin School District 37	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(847) 546-9336	325	25	12.7	58.2%	180 (55.4%)	14 (4.3%)	114 (35.1%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	1 (0.3%)	12 (3.7%)	$15,592			$656			$14,936	51.1	35.1	816	206		171629001945

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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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.