Best Middle Schools in Illinois for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in Illinois!

Every year, the Illinois State Board of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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 (Special Education vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 812)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Thurgood Marshall School	Public	5-8	4664 N Rockton Ave	Rockford	61103	Winnebago County	Rockford School District 205	No	(n/a)	No	No	(815) 490-5400	514	29	17.8	31.5%	295 (57.4%)	19 (3.7%)	78 (15.2%)	86 (16.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	36 (7.0%)	$16,625			$318			$16,307	99.9%	99.9%	0.05%			173451006242
2	Reservoir Gifted School	Public	5-8	3706 N Grand Blvd	Peoria	61614	Peoria County	Peoria School District 150	No	(n/a)	No	No	(309) 672-6563	308	16	18.9	35.1%	167 (54.2%)	51 (16.6%)	37 (12.0%)	8 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	45 (14.6%)	$12,148			$740			$11,408	99.8%	99.7%	0.05%			173123000973
3	The Joseph Sears School	Public	PK, KG-8	542 Abbotsford Rd	Kenilworth	60043	Cook County	Kenilworth School District 38	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(847) 853-3803	471	53	8.8		400 (84.9%)	2 (0.4%)	15 (3.2%)	26 (5.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (5.9%)	$30,709			$782			$29,927	99.6%	98.8%	0.80%			172097002378
4	Northbrook Junior High School	Public	6-8	1475 Maple Ave	Northbrook	60062	Cook County	Northbrook School District 28	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(847) 498-7920	621	74	8.4		460 (74.1%)	8 (1.3%)	36 (5.8%)	90 (14.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (4.2%)	$28,604			$371			$28,233	99.5%	98.7%	0.82%			172898003040
5	Lake Zurich Middle - S Campus	Public	6-8	435 W Cuba Rd	Lake Zurich	60047	Lake County	Lake Zurich CUSD 95	No	(n/a)	No	No	(847) 540-7070	599	55	10.8	15.4%	481 (80.3%)	6 (1.0%)	37 (6.2%)	52 (8.7%)	1 (0.2%)	2 (0.3%)	20 (3.3%)	$20,351			$215			$20,136	99.4%	97.7%	1.72%			172190000517
6	Burley Elementary School	Public	K-8	1630 W Barry Ave	Chicago	60657	Cook County	Chicago Public Schools District 299	No	(n/a)	No	No	(773) 534-5475	494	30	16.4	8.3%	326 (66.0%)	6 (1.2%)	74 (15.0%)	54 (10.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (6.9%)	$16,968			$1,397			$15,571	99.3%	96.1%	3.21%			170993000632
7	Charles J Caruso Middle School	Public	6-8	1801 Montgomery Rd	Deerfield	60015	Lake County	Deerfield School District 109	No	(n/a)	No	No	(847) 945-8430	440	49	8.9		364 (82.7%)	2 (0.5%)	25 (5.7%)	25 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.2%)	23 (5.2%)	$22,436			$381			$22,055	99.1%	97.4%	1.70%			171198001444
8	Hickory Creek Middle School	Public	6-8	22150 S Owens Rd	Frankfort	60423	Will County	Frankfort CCSD 157C	No	(n/a)	No	No	(815) 469-4474	943	63	14.8		663 (70.3%)	95 (10.1%)	82 (8.7%)	28 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	75 (8.0%)	$14,164			$392			$13,772	99.0%	99.1%	0.11%			171570001881
9	Maple School	Public	6-8	2370 Shermer Rd	Northbrook	60062	Cook County	Northbrook/Glenview School District 30	No	(n/a)	No	Yes	(847) 400-8905	451	42	10.6		207 (45.9%)	5 (1.1%)	30 (6.7%)	171 (37.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (8.4%)	$24,807			$378			$24,430	98.9%	98.9%	0.01%			172442002649
10	Wilmette Junior High School	Public	7-8	620 Locust Rd	Wilmette	60091	Cook County	Wilmette School District 39	No	(n/a)	No	No	(847) 512-6600	766	65	11.8		550 (71.8%)	3 (0.4%)	62 (8.1%)	70 (9.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	81 (10.6%)	$21,145			$308			$20,837	98.8%	96.4%	2.35%			174260004280

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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 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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on 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.