2 Local Elementary Schools Among Top 200 In IL: U.S. News

CRYSTAL LAKE, CARY AND FOX RIVER GROVE, IL — Several elementary and middle schools that Crystal Lake, Cary and Fox River Grove students attend have been ranked among the best in Illinois, according to brand-new rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

For the inaugural list, U.S. News published rankings and data on more than 80,000 public elementary and middle schools across the United States. Schools are ranked at the state and district levels, and the best charter schools and best magnet schools were ranked in stand-alone categories.

U.S. News ranked Algonquin Road Elementary School in Fox River Grove as the best in the state among elementary schools in the Crystal Lake and Cary area. Prairie Grove Junior High School got the U.S. News nod as the best middle school in the area, according to the new list.

Algonquin Road School received a ranking of 125 among all Illinois elementary schools and Prairie Grove Junior High came in at 284 among all middle schools in the state.

Meanwhile, the top ranked elementary schools in Illinois are all in Chicago, including Skinner North Elementary School, Lenart Elementary Regional Gifted Center, Decatur Classical Elementary School and Edison Elementary Regional Gifted Center. Meadow Glens Elementary School in Naperville is the top-ranked suburban school.

Here’s a look at how other elementary schools in the Crystal Lake and Cary area ranked:

• Prairie Grove Elementary School in Crystal Lake is ranked 326th in the state
• Woods Creek Elementary School Crystal Lake is ranked 361st in the state
• West Elementary School in Crystal Lake is 373rd in the state
• Glacier Ridge Elementary School in Crystal Lake is 391st in the state

As for top-ranked middle schools, the top five U.S. News schools are in Rockford or Chicago, including: Young Magnet High School in Chicago, Thurgood Marshall School in Rockford, Lane Technical High School in Chicago, Edison Elementary Regional Gifted Center in Chicago and Skinner North Elementary School in Chicago.

Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire is the top-ranked suburban school, according to the U.S. News rankings.

Here is a look at the best middle schools in the Crystal Lake and Cary area:

• Prairie Grove Junior High: 284
• Lundahl Middle School: 395
• Richard F Bernotas Middle School: 456

To determine the rankings, U.S. News used data from the U.S. Department of Education to analyze two areas at each school:

• Math and reading proficiency — or how well students perform on state assessments.
• Math and reading performance — or how well they perform compared with expectations.

Nationally, California has 5,534 ranked elementary schools — the most of any state — followed by Texas at 4,446; New York at 2,211; Florida at 2,128; and Illinois at 2,038 schools.

California also has the most ranked middle schools with 2,319, followed by Texas at 1,942; Illinois at 1,243; New York at 1,219; and Florida at 997.

See the complete list of 2021’s Best K-8 Schools.