1
What advice would you give to incoming students at Excelsior Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
594
Middle
DISTRICT 576 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LINN-MAR COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 191722001005
Excelsior Middle School
3555 N 10th St, Marion, IA 52302 · (319) 447-3130 · Linn County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL594 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 70% of Iowa public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Iowa public middle schools
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
45 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.9:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
28%
169 students
DISTRICT 26% · STATE 41%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 297 | 50% |
| Grade 8 | 297 | 50% |
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 44% · STATE 48% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Excelsior Middle School→Linn-Mar High School
Based on grade levels within Linn-Mar Comm School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
86.0%
IA avg 73.6% . -0.6pp since 2023
Math
79.5%
IA avg 70.9% . -3.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 86 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 80 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.0% | 79.5% |
| 2023-24 | 86.6% | 82.7% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: ISASP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
81.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
77.7%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 81% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 78% typical for Iowa schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Iowa's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Excelsior Middle School
Excelsior Middle School's state test result (81.1% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excelsior Middle School this school | 594 | 28.5% | 81.1% |
| Boulder Peak Intermediate School Marion | 613 | 31.5% | 71.4% |
| Holmes Junior High School Cedar Falls | 628 | 25.2% | 85.3% |
| Clear Creek Amana Middle School Tiffin | 702 | 27.6% | 78.5% |
| Parkview Middle School Ankeny | 865 | 27.3% | 85.9% |
| Carlisle Middle School Carlisle | 518 | 30.1% | 70.1% |
Matched among Iowa middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Excelsior Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Linn County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 81.1% | #63 of 224 | #7 of 17 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 79.5% | #77 of 224 ▼ 32 | #6 of 17 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.0% | #44 of 224 no change | #7 of 17 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 594 | #52 of 246 | #5 of 17 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.2:1 | #44 of 180 | #3 of 15 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 36.3% | #84 of 180 | #12 of 15 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 28.5% | #173 of 237 | #11 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -37.3% | #2 of 103 | #1 of 10 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
594
-41 (-6%) vs 2020
+23% since 1990-91, when it was 481
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
was 13.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 594 | 45 | 13.2:1 | 28% (169) |
| 2023-24 | 605 | 44 | 13.8:1 | 26% (160) |
| 2022-23 | 617 | 46.5 | 13.3:1 | 28% (170) |
| 2020-21 | 635 | 46 | 13.8:1 | 30% (193) |
| 2017-18 | 948 | 66.9 | 14.2:1 | 29% (272) |
| 2015-16 | 944 | 63 | 15.0:1 | 28% (267) |
| 2010-11 | 761 | 55 | 13.8:1 | 21% (162) |
| 2000-01 | 988 | 56 | 17.6:1 | 10% (98) |
| 1990-91 | 481 | 31 | 15.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Excelsior Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 37% (948 to 594); teachers down 33% (66.9 to 45).
About Excelsior Middle School
Excelsior Middle School is a medium-sized middle school. Its address is in Marion, Iowa. It enrolled 594 students in grades 7 through 8 for the 2024-25 school year. Statewide, middle schools in Iowa average about 400 students each.
Linn-Mar Comm School District is made up of 12 schools with 7,361 students in all.
White students are the majority at Excelsior Middle School, with 79% of enrollment. The school is also 6% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 3% Asian. Excelsior Middle School's diversity index is 36%, against a US figure of 70%.
At Excelsior Middle School, 45 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 13.2:1. On average, middle schools in Iowa have 15.2:1, compared with 13.2:1 here. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 28% of enrollment. That is lower than the 40% average for public schools in Linn County.
allk12 grades Excelsior Middle School a B+. The grade compares the school only with Iowa public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Excelsior Middle School would score about 77.7%. It scores 81.1%, 3.4 points above that figure.
Linn County has these Census figures: the median household income is $77,649, about 35% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. In all, Linn County has 83 public schools and roughly 36,480 students.
Linn-Mar High School is located about 0.4 miles from Excelsior Middle School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Excelsior Middle School is ahead of the 79.5% nearby average, ranking 5th of 9.
The school's locale code, Suburb: Mid-size, means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment is down 6% from 2020-21, when Excelsior Middle School had 635 students, to 2024-25, when it had 594.
The Excelsior Middle School community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Linn County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
230,004
Census ACS
Median income
$77,649
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
36,480 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Linn-Mar Comm School District
- Linn-Mar High SchoolHigh · 2,229 students
- Boulder Peak Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 613 students
- Hazel Point Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 563 students
- Echo Hill ElementaryElementary · 536 students
- Oak Ridge Middle SchoolMiddle · 534 students
- Westfield Elementary SchoolElementary · 445 students
Other schools in Marion
- Linn-Mar High SchoolHigh · 2,229 students
- Marion High SchoolHigh · 735 students
- Boulder Peak Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 613 students
- Vernon Middle SchoolMiddle · 587 students
- Hazel Point Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 563 students
- Echo Hill ElementaryElementary · 536 students
Other Excelsior Middle schools
One other US public school is named Excelsior Middle. Excelsior Middle School is the largest of the 2.
- Excelsior MiddleByron, CA · 377 students
Nearby schools
- Linn-Mar High School0.4 mi · 2,229
- Indian Creek Elementary School0.6 mi · 354
- Novak Elementary School0.7 mi · 347
- Oak Ridge Middle School1.2 mi · 534
- Wilkins Elementary School1.3 mi · 348
- Hazel Point Intermediate School1.3 mi · 563
Frequently asked questions
About Excelsior Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Excelsior Middle School?
Excelsior Middle School enrolls approximately 594 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Excelsior Middle School serve?
Excelsior Middle School serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Excelsior Middle School?
Approximately 13.2:1 students per teacher at Excelsior Middle School.
How diverse is Excelsior Middle School?
Excelsior Middle School reports a student body of 79% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% Black, 3% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Excelsior Middle School?
Excelsior Middle School is overseen by Linn-Mar Comm School District in Linn County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.