Marion, IA Schools and Colleges
Marion schools offer families a high-quality education, from preschool through college.
With two top-notch school districts, parochial schools and a community college, the Marion educational system gives families a wide range of high-quality choices close to home.
Public Schools
Marion is served by two excellent public school districts – Linn‐Mar Community with more than 7,000 students in 10 schools, and Marion Independent, with 2,000 students in five schools. The Linn-Mar Community School District is comprised of seven elementary schools and two middle schools that feed into Linn-Mar High School. The district also offers an early childhood learning program for 3- to 5-year-olds.
The award-winning Linn-Mar High School, one of the largest high schools in the state, was recently renovated to add new visual arts and design/engineering/materials classrooms, new family and consumer science labs, and an upgraded computer lab. The high school offers students several opportunities to earn college credit, including Advanced Placement options in most subjects; the dual enrollment Career Edge program with Kirkwood Community College; and the post-secondary enrollment option, which pays for high school students to take classes at area colleges.
The Marion Independent School District comprises two elementary schools, an intermediate school and a middle school that feed into Marion High School. A third elementary school is slated to open for the 2017/2018 school year. The district also offers preschool for 4-year-olds and a home school assistance program, which provides a variety of services to homeschooling families, including curriculum guidance from a certified teacher, supplemental enrichment classes for students and organized family-centered field trips. The district’s smaller enrollment means smaller class sizes without compromising quality.
Parochial Schools
St. Joseph Catholic School enrolls students in preschool through eighth grade. In addition to offering a religious-based 21st-century education, the school is focused on integrating technology into its curriculum. Students are allowed to use laptops, iPads, iPods, digital cameras and online applications to enhance the educational experience, and classrooms are equipped with Smartboards. All sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders are issued personal iPads. St. Joseph feeds into the Xavier Catholic Schools system, a collaboration of Catholic schools in the Cedar Rapids/Marion area. High school students attend Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids.
Kirkwood Community College
Kirkwood Community College offers more than 100 two-year-degree and certificate programs, ranging from agriculture and business to health care and transportation. The main campus in Cedar Rapids features the Kirkwood Healthcare Simulation Lab, which allows nursing students to get hands-on experience at handling real-life health emergencies. The college’s STEM-related programs have earned it more than $1 million in scholarship support from the National Science Foundation. Kirkwood partners with several area high schools to provide opportunities for students to earn college credit while still in high school. The college also offers an adult high school, adult basic education and a GED program, as well as customized employer training, online matriculation and continuing education options in a wide range of subjects.