Harding Middle School

Located at 4801 Golf ST NE, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Harding Middle School is a substantial middle-grades school that serves 710 students (grades 6 through 8), overseen by Cedar Rapids Comm School District. Enrollment runs roughly 78% above the state mean of about 400.

Cedar Rapids Comm School District runs 35 schools in total, collectively educating 15,494 students. Harding Middle School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Harding Middle School records that the largest single group is White, at 66% of enrollment; the rest looks like 12% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 7% Black, 4% Asian. By comparison, Linn County as a whole is about 84% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Harding Middle School has 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.0:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.2:1, putting Harding Middle School higher than the state norm the norm. About 44% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Harding Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 70.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 75.8%.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Linn County put the typical household earns roughly $77,649 per year, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Harding Middle School is one of 83 public schools in Linn County (combined enrollment of about 36,480 students).

The closest other public school is Wright Elementary School, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Harding Middle School comes 2nd of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 66.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 9%: 784 students in 2018 compared to 710 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share declined from 11% to 7%.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.