The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in English language arts. The lowest is 74% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Madison Elementary School
Madison Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is part of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, the second largest public education provider in the state. The school sits in a mid-sized city that anchors Eastern Iowa’s economy, shaped heavily by grain and corn processing alongside major employers such as Collins Aerospace and a large Quaker Oats mill.
The school’s student body is small for its grade band. The enrollment is shaped by a mix of backgrounds—more than half of the students are white, about one in five are Black, and smaller shares are Hispanic or identify with two or more races. About six in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a level that indicates a substantial share of families have lower household income. The district itself has been navigating a budget shortfall tied to declining enrollment and per-pupil funding that has not kept up with inflation, leading to staff cuts and program adjustments for the 2024-25 school year. That district-wide pressure may reach into Madison, though its direct impact on day-to-day resources is not detailed in the available data.
On state assessments, the school’s results are a mixed picture. In math, roughly three-quarters of students scored at the proficient level or above, a share that falls below the midpoint when compared against other districts within Linn County. In English language arts, a similar share of students hit that benchmark, also below the county midpoint. In science, the rate was close to three-quarters. These proficiency rates sit near the middle of the range for the county, not at the top. Because the data covers only a single school year, there is no multi-year trend to indicate whether performance is improving or declining. The test participation rate was complete, so the results reflect nearly the entire tested population.
The school does not serve grades beyond fifth, so there is no graduation rate to report. Other common measures such as chronic absenteeism and staffing data were not available in the records provided, so a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand attendance patterns and class sizes.
Cedar Rapids itself has been a city of steady metro-area growth, with recent major developments including a large data center announced in 2025, the largest economic development project in the city’s history. The city is still recovering from a devastating flood years ago, which damaged key civic facilities. The school sits on the west side of the city, where the Cedar River divides the community. The district has been executing an elementary facilities master plan that opened three new elementary schools in recent years while closing or consolidating older buildings and redrawing attendance boundaries. It is not clear from the available data whether Madison Elementary is one of the buildings that will be replaced, renovated, or affected by these boundary changes, so families should confirm with the district how the plan relates to this specific school.
Madison Elementary offers a standard elementary program in a district with a wide geographic and economic reach. Its academic performance is solid but not top-tier within the county. For families weighing schools in the Cedar Rapids system, Madison represents a middle-of-the-pack proficiency picture in a district undergoing significant facilities and budget changes. A parent might want to ask about the school’s specific role in the facilities plan, how the district’s budget reductions have affected programs and support staff here, and whether recent boundary shifts have changed the neighborhood the school draws from.
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