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What's the biggest difference between Taft Middle School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
593
Middle
DISTRICT 450 · STATE 400
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CEDAR RAPIDS COMM SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 190654000261
Taft Middle School
5200 E AVE NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405 · (319) 558-2243 · Linn County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL593 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 38% of Iowa public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
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
15.4:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
276 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 41%
Community
6
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 6 | 181 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 205 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 207 | 35% |
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
Test scores
ISASP 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
78.5%
IA avg 73.6% . +4.3pp since 2023
Math
70.1%
IA avg 70.9% . +5.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the ISASP, Iowa's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 70 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Iowa schools, those numbers are about 74 and 71. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
ISASP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 78.5% | 70.1% |
| 2023-24 | 74.2% | 65.1% |
% 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
71.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
68.7%
based on IA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 69% 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 Taft Middle School
Taft Middle School's state test result (71.0% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taft Middle School this school | 593 | 46.5% | 71.0% |
| George Washington Middle School Dubuque | 584 | 53.4% | 65.4% |
| Merrill Middle School Des Moines | 657 | 43.7% | 72.2% |
| John Adams Middle School Mason City | 463 | 49.0% | 65.7% |
| Charles City Middle School Charles City | 386 | 52.1% | 68.2% |
| Stilwell Junior High School West Des Moines | 645 | 47.0% | 73.2% |
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 Taft Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Iowa | In Linn County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 71.0% | #152 of 224 | #11 of 17 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 70.1% | #159 of 224 ▲ 11 | #12 of 17 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 78.5% | #113 of 224 ▲ 40 | #8 of 17 ▲ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 593 | #53 of 246 | #6 of 17 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.4:1 | #131 of 180 | #12 of 15 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.1% | #51 of 180 | #6 of 15 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 46.5% | #85 of 237 | #5 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.2% | #61 of 61 | N/A |
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
593
+49 (+9%) vs 2020
+4% since 1990-91, when it was 571
Student : Teacher
15.4:1
was 15.5:1
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 | 593 | 38.5 | 15.4:1 | 47% (276) |
| 2023-24 | 596 | 40.3 | 14.8:1 | 40% (239) |
| 2022-23 | 578 | 40.5 | 14.3:1 | 38% (218) |
| 2020-21 | 544 | 35 | 15.5:1 | 38% (206) |
| 2017-18 | 592 | 35.5 | 16.7:1 | 32% (187) |
| 2015-16 | 581 | 32 | 18.2:1 | 27% (159) |
| 2010-11 | 652 | 46 | 14.2:1 | 38% (248) |
| 2000-01 | 669 | 44 | 15.2:1 | 15% (101) |
| 1990-91 | 571 | 42 | 13.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Taft Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (592 to 593); teachers up 8% (35.5 to 38.5).
About Taft Middle School
Taft Middle School is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as a middle school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The school had 593 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25. Average enrollment for middle schools in Iowa is about 400, so this school runs 48% above that.
Taft Middle School is part of Cedar Rapids Comm School District, where 35 schools serve 15,494 students.
By race and ethnicity, Taft Middle School is 67% White. The school is also 14% Black, 11% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. That is lower than the 84% White share among all Linn County residents. The chance that two students picked at random at Taft Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 52%.
Teacher staffing is 38.5 full-time equivalents, or about 15.4 students per teacher. Middle schools in Iowa average about 15.2:1, a similar figure. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 47%.
Taft Middle School is graded C+ by allk12, scoring above 38% of Iowa public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Taft Middle School scores 71.0% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 68.7%.
Linn County has these Census figures: median household income is about $77,649, roughly 35% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 6%. The public schools of Linn County number 83 and enroll about 36,480.
The nearest other public school, Truman Early Learning Center, is about 0.2 miles away. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Taft Middle School. On state test proficiency, Taft Middle School ranks 3rd in a group of 6 nearby schools.
Locale data from NCES put Taft Middle School inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000 (City: Mid-size).
Taft Middle School saw enrollment rise 9% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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 Cedar Rapids Comm School District
- John F Kennedy High SchoolHigh · 1,648 students
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,501 students
- George Washington High SchoolHigh · 1,182 students
- Harding Middle SchoolMiddle · 710 students
- Viola Gibson Elementary SchoolElementary · 565 students
- West Willow Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
Other schools in Cedar Rapids
- Prairie High SchoolHigh · 1,766 students
- John F Kennedy High SchoolHigh · 1,648 students
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,501 students
- George Washington High SchoolHigh · 1,182 students
- Prairie PointMiddle · 868 students
- Prairie CreekMiddle · 846 students
Other Taft Middle schools
4 other US public schools in 5 states are named Taft Middle. Taft Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 5.
- Taft Middle SchoolOklahoma City, OK · 1,096 students
- Taft MiddleSan Diego, CA · 410 students
- TAFT MIDDLEALBUQUERQUE, NM · 243 students
- Taft Middle SchoolLincoln City, OR · 235 students
Nearby schools
- Truman Early Learning Center0.2 mi · 279
- Hoover Elementary School0.9 mi · 420
- West Willow Elementary School0.9 mi · 555
- Maple Grove Elementary1.0 mi · 539
- Madison Elementary School1.5 mi · 153
- Cleveland Elementary School1.9 mi · 254
Frequently asked questions
About Taft Middle SchoolHow large is Taft Middle School?
Taft Middle School enrolls approximately 593 students in grades 06-08.
Is Taft Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Taft Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Taft Middle School?
Approximately 15.4:1 students per teacher at Taft Middle School.
How diverse is Taft Middle School?
Taft Middle School reports a student body of 67% White, 6% Hispanic, 14% Black, 2% Asian, 11% Two or more.
Is Taft Middle School public or private?
Taft Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Cedar Rapids Comm School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.