U.S. News & World Report released its 2027 rankings of public elementary and middle schools on October 20. It ranked 46,713 elementary schools and 24,756 middle schools, but only within each state, so there is no national No. 1. Here are the top schools in the 15 most populous states.
Half of each school's score comes from how its students did on state math and reading tests. U.S. News gave extra credit for students scoring above proficient, so a school's index rises with the share of students at the top levels. The other half compares those results with what U.S. News predicted from the school's share of economically disadvantaged students and its share of students from Hispanic, Black, Native American, and multiracial backgrounds. The rankings use test results from the 2023-24 school year. Ten states, none of them on this list, did not have usable new data, so their schools kept last year's ranks.
Gifted programs and wide grade spans
In 7 of these 15 states, the No. 1 elementary school has gifted, magnet, or advanced studies in its name: Orlando Gifted Academy, Edison Regional Gifted Center in Chicago, the Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students in Cincinnati, Kittredge Magnet School in DeKalb County, Ga., Avondale Gifted and Talented Education in Michigan, Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies in Arizona, and Merrol Hyde Magnet School in Tennessee. Three of the No. 1 middle schools do too: Whitney M. Young Magnet High in Chicago, Wadsworth Magnet School for High Achievers in Georgia, and Central Magnet School in Tennessee. Texas's No. 2 schools on both lists are Dallas ISD's talented-and-gifted academies.
The method helps explain it. U.S. News wrote that a school with all of its test-takers at the state's highest proficiency level "will always be ranked as the No. 1 school," because those students have no room left to beat their predicted scores.
Several winners are not typical elementary or middle schools. Spring Branch Academic Institute in Houston serves grades 1 through 12 and enrolls 174 students. Special Music School in Manhattan runs from kindergarten through 12th grade with 305 students. Old Donation School in Virginia Beach covers grades 2 through 8. Each ranked No. 1 on both lists in its state. For schools like these, U.S. News counted only grades 3 through 5 for the elementary ranking and grades 6 through 8 for the middle school ranking. Pine View School in Osprey, Fla., with grades 2 through 12, was No. 1 among Florida middle schools and No. 2 among elementary schools.
A few districts keep showing up
Some districts placed several schools near the top. In Ohio, Solon City Schools has the No. 2 and No. 3 elementary schools, Grace L. Roxbury and Parkside, and the No. 1 middle school, Orchard. Pennsylvania's top three elementary schools are all in Pittsburgh's suburbs: Fairview in Fox Chapel Area, then Eisenhower and Baker in Upper St. Clair. The state's top two middle schools, Masterman and Penn Alexander, are in Philadelphia.
In Illinois, Chicago Public Schools has the top two elementary schools, Edison and Skinner North, and the top three middle schools, Young, Decatur Classical, and Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. Edison and Skinner North held the same top two spots last year, and the district had five of the top 10 Illinois elementary schools, WTTW reported. Guilford County Schools in North Carolina has both No. 1s, Lincoln Academy and Brown Summit Middle. DeKalb County has both in Georgia. In New Jersey, Paterson's School 28 is the top elementary school and No. 2 among middle schools.
U.S. News does not compare states with each other because each state writes its own tests. In many states the top schools have every student testing proficient, while in others the best schools have far lower shares, which U.S. News said is likely because of differences among the exams. Its high school list came out earlier, and allk12 covered it in U.S. News's best high schools for 2026-27. allk12's own best schools rankings take a different approach, ranking schools by how far their test scores beat what their students' family incomes would predict.
Sources
U.S. News: How U.S. News Calculated the 2027 Best Elementary and Middle Schools Rankings (October 19, 2026)
U.S. News: 2027 Best Public Elementary Schools in California (each state has its own page)
U.S. News: 2027 Best Public Middle Schools in Texas (each state has its own page)
WTTW: Pair of Chicago Elementary Schools Named Top in Illinois in New U.S. News Rankings
State population order from U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 estimates. School districts and enrollment from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data, 2024-25.
