Top-Ranked Middle Schools In Illinois Parents Should Know About

Nearly every parent, Illinois resident or not, wants their kid(s) to be able to attend the best possible school for them. Granted, it doesn't always work out that way, but the hope is always there.

Here's the thing. You've probably heard the expression "Hope is not a strategy," so in order to help make sure your kid(s) get the opportunity to attend the best institutions, you may have to consider moving to someplace that the schools match up with what you and your child or children have in mind.

To make that a bit easier, let's take a look at the 20 middle schools that US News & World Report says are the very best that Illinois has to offer, according to their latest rankings.

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How Does An Organization Decide Which Schools Land On The Top Schools List?

In the case of this year's US News & World Report piece on the Best Middle Schools In The US, here's what they looked at:

The rankings use the same methodology for all included grade levels. For each state, schools were assessed on their shares of students who were proficient or above proficient in their mathematics and reading/language arts state assessments. Half of the formula assessed the scores themselves and the other half incorporated the test results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are all high-achieving and have succeeded at educating all their students.

In total, 46,998 elementary schools and 23,328 middle schools were ranked. When combined with the 17,908 public high schools US News ranked in 2025, US News has assigned 88,234 state ranks across its elementary, middle and high schools rankings.

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