Naperville’s two school districts rate in the top 40 of Niche’s 2023 list of Best School Districts in America.
Naperville District 203 rose to No. 25 in the United States, up from 40 last year, and Indian Prairie District 204 earned a spot at No. 36, up 20 notches from 56th place the previous year.
In its ninth year, the Niche rankings released this week include data for 92,743 public schools, 30,112 private schools and 11,820 school districts nationwide.
Beyond metrics like test scores and academic performance, Niche combines input from students, alumni and parents with quantitative data from sources like the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities and extracurricular activity opportunities.
Topping the list of the Best School Districts in America is Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125, based in Lincolnshire, followed by Glenbrook High School District 225, based in Glenview, at No. 2.
Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 are the only K-12 school districts in Illinois cracking the top 40 in the U.S.; the rest from Illinois are all high school districts.
Both districts had overall A+ ratings from Niche.com.
Niche’s 2023 Best Schools rankings include 2,906 newly ranked public schools, 1,018 newly ranked private schools and 547 newly ranked school districts.
District 203 and 204’s five high schools all placed in the top 25 public high schools in Illinois.
Neuqua Valley earned the 11th spot; Metea Valley, 18th; Naperville North, 21st; Naperville Central, 22nd; and Waubonsie Valley, 25th.
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At No. 62, Neuqua Valley was the only Naperville school to place in the top 100 high schools in America.
Six of the 10 highest-ranked public middle/junior high schools in Illinois also were from one of the Naperville-area school districts:
Naperville’s Kennedy, Madison and Washington junior high schools were first, fifth and ninth, respectively;
Indian Prairie’s Scullen, Gregory, and Crone middle schools were second, third and sixth, respectively.
Nationally, five area middle school cracked Niche’s top 100 junior high/middle schools: Naperville’s Kennedy (45) and Madison (85) and Indian Prairie’s Scullen (62), Gregory (82) and Crone (95).
Of the 10 highest-ranked public elementary schools in Illinois, all but one were either part of District 203 or District 204 and eight were claimed by Indian Prairie elementary schools.
Indian Prairie’s top 10 elementary schools include: Spring Brook (1), Graham (3), Builta (4), Fry (5), Clow (6), Peterson (7), Brooks (9) and Patterson (10).
Naperville 203’s Meadow Glens was eighth.
Making the top 20 in Illinois were District 203’s River Woods (12), Ellsworth (14), Ranch View (15), Mill Street (18) and Highlands (19) and District 204’s Kendall (16), Watts (17) and Steck (20).
Additionally, the local elementary schools in Illinois’ top 10 also cracked the top 100 in America along with River Woods, Ellsworth and Ranch View.