Best Schools in Quincy, Illinois

Quincy, Illinois has 9 ranked public schools covering elementary through middle grades across the city. The district averages 6.6 out of 10 — a functional baseline, though the spread tells a more useful story than the average alone. Three schools, exactly 33% of the ranked total, score 7 or higher, giving families at least a few high-performing options. The majority cluster below that threshold, so performance across Quincy is real but uneven.

Dr. Abby Fox Rooney Elementary leads all ranked schools with an 8.1 rating — 1.5 points above the city average, the widest gap of any school in the city. That makes it the clearest priority for families who can access it. Colonel George Iles Elementary follows at 7.6, and Central 3-4 rounds out the top tier at 7.3. All three are elementary-level programs, which concentrates Quincy's strongest academic performance in the early grades. Quincy Jr. High School scores 6.9 — modestly above the city average — and represents the primary middle school option for students coming out of those feeder elementaries. Sarah Atwater Denman Elementary sits at 6.8, right at the city average: a solid but unremarkable choice.

For parents researching Quincy, elementary zoning is the highest-leverage decision. The 1.5-point gap between the top school and the city average is substantial — wide enough that two families in different attendance zones can end up with meaningfully different academic environments. Before settling on a neighborhood, confirm which elementary each address feeds and whether the district allows open enrollment transfers. With 67% of schools scoring below 7, building-specific research matters more here than trusting the district as a whole. The good news: three schools give motivated parents a strong, concrete target to aim for.