Schools That Rule
Our first rankings of public elementaries and junior highs since 2019 go deeper than ever — and feature some new names at the top.
RELATED: Best Public High Schools
How We Ranked the Schools
The performance measures were based on data obtained from the Illinois State Board of Education for the 2023–24 school year, the most recent available. Calculations were done by the research nonprofit RTI International, based on weighting instructions provided by Chicago. Not all the measures used appear in the rankings tables.
The Measures We Used
- IAR attainment is the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness exams for ELA (English language arts) and math.
- IAR growth is the school’s average student growth percentile, which compares the year-over-year change by individual students on the IAR exams with that of comparable students in the state.
- Chronic absenteeism is the percentage of students who missed 10 percent or more of school days.
- 5Essentials is a teacher and student survey that assesses five key aspects of a school’s learning environment.
- Spending per pupil is the instructional expenditure, reported by the district.
How We Weighted the Measures
- IAR English attainment: 15%
- IAR English growth: 22.5%
- IAR math attainment: 15%
- IAR math growth: 22.5%
- Chronic absenteeism: 15%
- For Chicago schools
5Essentials: 10% - For suburban schools
Spending per pupil: 10%