Where To Live for the Best Education In Linn County
Anytime you move to a new location, there are so many things to consider, such as crime rates, distance to work, and, if you have kids, the best education choices for your children. We took a look at ratings from both GreatSchools.org and Schooldigger.com. Both sites base their rankings mainly off test scores.
Looking over all the data, you can't do much better than being in the Linn-Mar school district. Combining data from both sites, most Elementary schools feeding into Oak Ridge, then eventually Linn-Mar, had nice scores across the board, making this one of the strongest school districts in the County. However, you could also make a very strong case for Mount Vernon being the best choice. Both Washington Elementary and the Middle school had great scores, with a huge strong point being Mount Vernon High School, the strongest High School in the list, with a 9 rating and the 11th best High School rating in the state.
So how did Cedar Rapids schools do? For elementary schools, the best ranking was a 7 for grade schools (Viola Gibson and Prairie Ridge), while a couple more Cedar Rapids School District Taft Middle School feeder schools had decent showings, with a nice score for Taft. As far as High Schools, Kennedy had a strong showing with a 9 rating and 5 ranking. You'll also remember Kennedy was the top school in the state on this report. In summary, the best route would be Jackson to Taft to Kennedy.
Elementary Schools | GreatSchools | SchoolDigger State Rank | School District |
Westfield | 10 | 6 | Linn-Mar |
Indian Creek | 9 | 14 | Linn-Mar |
Washington | 8 | 43 | Mt. Vernon |
Echo Hill | 9 | 55 | Linn-Mar |
Walker | 8 | 90 | North Linn |
Viola Gibson | 7 | 95 | Cedar Rapids |
Bowman Woods | 7 | 119 | Cedar Rapids |
Jackson | 6 | 142 | Cedar Rapids |
Coolidge | 6 | 154 | Cedar Rapids |
Prairie Ridge | 7 | 170 | College Community |
Francis Marion | 6 | 198 | Marion |
Truman | 6 | 208 | Cedar Rapids |
Middle Schools | GreatSchools | SchoolDigger State Rank | School District |
Oak Ridge | 9 | 30 | Linn-Mar |
Mount Vernon | 8 | 34 | Mt. Vernon |
Taft | 6 | 106 | Cedar Rapids |
Vernon | 6 | 112 | Marion |
Excelsior | 6 | 134 | Linn-Mar |
North-Linn | 5 | 167 | North Linn |
Prairie Point | 6 | 174 | College Community |
Harding | 5 | 203 | Cedar Rapids |
High Schools | GreatSchools | SchoolDigger State Rank | School District |
Mount Vernon | 9 | 11 | Mt. Vernon |
Kennedy | 9 | 55 | Cedar Rapids |
Linn-Mar | 8 | 65 | Linn-Mar |
Washington | 6 | 159 | Cedar Rapids |
Marion | 6 | 167 | Marion |
Prairie | 5 | 176 | College Community |
North Linn | 3 | 238 | North Linn |
*Note: These charts only show the top ranking schools for school districts that had strong showings on all three levels.