Our District

Discover the CRCSD Difference

AtCedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) we are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive, community-driven environment where every student feels valued and supported. By pairing rigorous academic excellence with cutting-edge innovation, we empower our learners to think critically and lead with confidence. Together with our passionate educators and local partners, we don't just prepare students for graduation—we inspire them to shape the world.

From preschool to graduation, CRCSD offers an unmatched variety of educational choices to ensure every student succeeds. As the second-largest district in Iowa, we proudly refer to our schools as the "Home of Opportunities." Our scale allows us to combine traditional classrooms, specialized magnet schools, virtual learning, and hands-on projects with endless extracurricular and athletic opportunities for families across Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, Robins, and Palo.

Strategic Plan

Planning For The Future

Future Ready Facilities

Explore Our Opportunities

Early Childhood

Early Childhood

CRCSD is committed to providing a strong start for our youngest learners through our inclusive preschool, kindergarten, and alternative kindergarten programs. These play-based programs are designed to provide students with a strong foundation for future school success and to spark a lifelong love of learning. We offer full and half-day preschool classes in our neighborhood elementary schools, with before and after school care available.

Specialized Magnet Schools

To accommodate different interests and learning styles, CRCSD offers specialized Magnet School options at the elementary and middle school levels. These programs deliver instruction through specialized themed curriculum, such as STEAM, arts, leadership, or business, allowing students to explore their passions and strengths. These schools also foster diversity, provide a rich cultural environment, and emphasize leadership and community involvement.

High School Pathways

High School Pathways

Our high schools carry a deep legacy of academic excellence and strong school pride. We offer a comprehensive suite of future-ready career and college tracks that stand unmatched in the region.

The Area's Most Advanced Academics: CRCSD proudly offers high school students 34 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, the largest selection in the area, giving students an elite head start on higher education.
Free College Credits: Through our strong partnership with Kirkwood Community College, students can take concurrent enrollment classes, earning free college credits while still in high school. In fact, some of our high school students have earned their Associate Degrees before they even graduate high school.
Real-World Experiential Learning: We connect students directly to the workforce. High schoolers can participate in structured industry tours, job shadows, and local business internships.
Iowa BIG: High schoolers can expand their education outside the traditional classroom, partnering with local Cedar Rapids business leaders to earn credit by working on real-world project to help solve real community problems.
Student Built House Program: With a legacy spanning over 50 years, this flagship program brings students from across the district together to construct a single-family home from the foundation up alongside local professionals, gaining invaluable, job-ready skills before graduation.

Co-Curricular/Extracurricular Activites

Co-Curricular & Extracurricular Activities

A well-rounded education happens both inside and outside the classroom. Our extensive list of co-curricular and extracurricular programs allow students to explore their interests, make new friends and solidify their identities. These types of activities can enhance traditional classroom learning, helping to students' skill development in ways that academics alone cannot.

Mississippi Valley Conference Athletics: Competitive athletic programs that build discipline, teamwork, school pride, nd lifelong leadership skills.
Award-Winning Fine Arts: Exceptional, state and nationally recognized programs in music, band, orchestra, choir, show choir, theatre, and visual arts where creative students can excel.
An Unmatched Range of Clubs & Extracurriculars: From robotics and student government to esports, gaming, and hobby-based groups, our schools offer a club for virtually every interest.
Inclusive Community: With over 70 languages spoken across our district, our student activities reflect a vibrant, global community, teaching students cultural intelligence, empathy, collaboration, and preparing them for the global workforce.

31 Buildings

5 High Schools, 6 Middle Schools, 18 Elementary Schools, 1 Early Learning Center & 1 Alternative Learning Center

14,000 Students

Approximately

2,600 Staff

Approximately

54

Nationally Board Certified Teachers

65+

Nations Represented

70+

Lanugages spoken

34

Advanced Placement Classes Offered

81.98%

Graduation Rate in 24-25

5,092.5

Free college credits earned in the 2024-25 school year, saving $1,105,073 in tuition costs.

Strategic Plan

Our long-range planning is grounded in collaboration and inspired by the aspirations of our staff, families, students, and community members. This strategic plan serves as a clear long-term roadmap and foundation for our decisions and actions—defining a shared path toward academic excellence, opportunity, and innovation.

This roadmap reflects our collective commitment to empowering every student to succeed by clearly outlining our district vision, mission, goals, and values. As we navigate this exciting phase of district transformation, our strategic plan ensures that every resource, program, and decision is aligned to make "Every Learner. Future Ready."

View The Strategic Plan

The Process

Cedar Rapids Community School District engages in a strategic planning process every three to five years, per Board policy 0101 and regulation 0101.R(1). The process consists of five phases:

1) Comprehensive Needs Assessment: a multifaceted and cross-sectional assessment of the District consisting of listening sessions, surveys, stakeholder interviews, and data analysis.

The Comprehensive Needs Assessment is a thorough and intricate evaluation of the District’s requirements. It involves a multifaceted approach that includes listening sessions, surveys, stakeholder interviews, and data analysis. This cross-sectional assessment aims to comprehensively understand the District’s needs from various perspectives and sources. The listening sessions allow individuals to express their opinions and concerns, while surveys offer a statistically significant sample of the population’s views. Stakeholder interviews allow for in-depth conversations with key individuals with a vested interest in the District. Finally, data analysis provides a quantitative assessment of the District’s needs. This approach offers a holistic view of the District’s needs, ensuring that all pertinent information is considered in the decision-making process.

2) Consultative Facilitation and Analysis: an analysis for needs assessment completed by an outside entity to ensure an unbiased evaluation of the District’s most pressing needs.

Consultative facilitation and analysis is a process of conducting a thorough evaluation of the needs of a district by an external entity. This evaluation aims to ensure an objective and unbiased analysis, which can help identify the district’s most pressing needs. The analysis involves collecting pertinent information, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and data analysis. The data collected is carefully analyzed by experts who provide recommendations and solutions to address the identified needs. This process helps the district make informed decisions and develop effective strategies to improve its operations and services.

3) Development and Feedback: a multi-step, inclusive process conducted by the superintendent of schools to develop and seek feedback from multiple stakeholder groups.

Development and Feedback is a multi-step and inclusive process that the superintendent of schools conducts. This process involves developing and seeking feedback from multiple stakeholder groups, including but not limited to the Board of Directors, Executive Cabinet, District committees, work groups, and other pertinent parties. This comprehensive approach ensures that all relevant parties have a say in the decision-making process and that the resulting outcomes accurately reflect the needs and perspectives of the entire community. Through this process, the superintendent can make informed decisions that positively impact the school district and its stakeholders.

4) Approval: a strategic plan overview is presented to the Board of Directors, seeking approval of the core pillars, strategic anchors, progress, and success measures.

At a Board of Directors meeting, a comprehensive strategic plan overview will be presented for approval. The outline will cover the plan’s core pillars, including the key focus areas for the organization’s future success. Additionally, the presentation will highlight the strategic anchors, which represent the foundational principles that guide decision-making and actions. The progress measures will be shared to provide insight into how the plan is implemented and whether it achieves its intended outcomes. Lastly, the success measures will be presented, outlining the goals and targets the organization aims to achieve by implementing the strategic plan.

5) Implementation: a multi-year process that empowers the Superintendent and District to be fluid and responsive, with a vision and implementation plan to meet approved outcomes.

Implementation is a complex and long-term process involving a series of actions and strategies to enable the Superintendent and the District to be flexible, adaptable, and responsive to the changing needs and expectations of the stakeholders. It requires a clear vision and a well-defined implementation plan that outlines the specific outcomes, objectives, and milestones to be achieved over a multi-year period. The implementation plan should also include a set of metrics and performance indicators that enable the District to track progress, identify challenges, and make necessary adjustments to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved. Additionally, effective implementation requires strong leadership, effective communication, and collaboration among all stakeholders, including teachers, staff, parents, community members, and local partners.

The multi-step process in place is designed to provide the Board of Education with the authority to govern the District effectively while enabling the Superintendent to manage the day-to-day operations of the educational institution. This approach creates a conducive environment for all stakeholders to work together seamlessly towards achieving the District’s goals and objectives. Through this process, the Board of Education can exercise its oversight responsibilities while the Superintendent can focus on efficiently delivering instructional programs and services to students.

Our District

Discover the CRCSD Difference

Strategic Plan

District Data Snapshot