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
681	Robein Elementary School	Public	K-8	200 Campus Ave	East Peoria	61611	Tazewell County	Robein School District 85	No	(n/a)	No	No	(309) 694-1409	150	15	10.2	44.7%	126 (84.0%)	1 (0.7%)	9 (6.0%)	3 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (7.3%)	$16,208			$380			$15,828	45.8	50.1	595	86		173417003504
682	Matthews Middle School	Public	6-8	3500 Darrell Rd.	Island Lake	60042	Lake County	Wauconda CUSD 118	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(847) 526-6210	451	39	11.4	43.7%	245 (54.3%)	8 (1.8%)	163 (36.1%)	16 (3.5%)	2 (0.4%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (3.8%)	$20,691			$826			$19,866	45.8	47.9	613	69		174119005945
683	Hampshire Middle School	Public	6-8	560 S State St	Hampshire	60140	Kane County	Cusd 300	No	(n/a)	No	No	(847) 683-2522	821	53	15.4	33.5%	484 (59.0%)	42 (5.1%)	226 (27.5%)	39 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (3.5%)	$15,685			$369			$15,316	45.7	47.5	623	60		170855000479
684	Orangeville Junior High School	Public	6-8	201 S Orange St	Orangeville	61060	Stephenson County	Orangeville CUSD 203	No	(n/a)	No	No	(815) 789-4289	64	5	12.7	34.4%	62 (96.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.1%)	$14,861			$318			$14,543	45.7	47	635	49		173006003112
685	Central Junior High School	Public	6-8	601 Taylor St	East Peoria	61611	Tazewell County	East Peoria School District 86	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(309) 427-5200	434	39	11	46.5%	365 (84.1%)	19 (4.4%)	24 (5.5%)	5 (1.2%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (4.6%)	$20,025			$828			$19,198	45.6	38.2	773	88		171324001569
686	Malden Grade School	Public	PK, KG-8	350 East St	Malden	61337	Bureau County	Malden CCSD 84	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(815) 643-2436	79	8	9.8	54.4%	63 (79.7%)	3 (3.8%)	13 (16.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,586			$1,625			$10,961	45.6	57	497	189		172412002635
687	Cardenas Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	2345 S Millard Ave	Chicago	60623	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 534-1465	764	56	13.6	95.8%	27 (3.5%)	21 (2.7%)	714 (93.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$19,889			$2,275			$17,614	45.3	47.6	621	66		170993001099
688	Grissom Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-8	12810 S Escanaba Ave	Chicago	60633	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(773) 535-5380	287	23	12.4	76.7%	20 (7.0%)	33 (11.5%)	232 (80.8%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$22,428			$2,370			$20,058	45.3	66.9	378	310		170993000808
689	Stevenson Middle School	Public	6-8	1630 N 20th Ave	Melrose Park	60160	Cook County	Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview 89	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(708) 450-2053	682	65	10.4	62.8%	11 (1.6%)	45 (6.6%)	618 (90.6%)	2 (0.3%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	4 (0.6%)	$20,318			$1,149			$19,168	45.2	31.2	882	193		172511006427
690	Durand Junior High School	Public	7-8	200 W South St	Durand	61024	Winnebago County	Durand CUSD 322	No	(n/a)	No	No	(815) 248-2171	58	7	7.9	48.3%	52 (89.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (5.2%)	$23,777			$2,232			$21,546	45.2	70.9	334	356		171281004614

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Illinois

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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

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

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.