I just hate this school, their athletes are always being mean, also it kinda of seems like they got some really bad lunches. Um, the government likes them more, because I can tell just by how much nicer. read more

Prairie High School - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I am not trying to be a hater by posting this review but trying to give parents who are moving into this state information regarding this school. Prairie High School is 10th-12th grade. If your child is academically focused and used to challenging honors or higher level classes, I would urge parents to avoid this school and this school district. We did extensive research on all the schools in the area including Iowa City and decided to move into the College Community School District because of its high score on Greatschools.org and praises from my husband's coworkers. Well, we were very disapointed and moved out of this school district after only one week of our daughter being enrolled. If you are not from Iowa but from the West or East coast and used to high standards of education, you will be disapointed. Iowa does not have honors classes for students. Not all high schools are created equal. Linn Marr and West High have advanced classes for English and Math but they are not called honors classes. Prairie HS does not have any advanced English classes! All students are expected to attend the same grade level of English classes even if your child was an honors student. This is a sports focused school. Teachers and students focus on the sports of the season and sometimes spend the entire class time discussing the previous game. Again, if your child is focused on sports, then this school is for you but if your child is academically focused and would like to be an engineer or medical doctor, avoid this school. I would recommend Linn Marr or West High. These are really the only two good high schools in this area. Another negativity is the dominance of cliques in this school. If your child did not grow up with this crowd, then it is very difficult to be accepted by the cliques unless you are an outstanding athlete. The teachers are mediocre and drive the focus on sports and homecoming. I received 5 emails about the homecoming in one week! Talk about overkill. We spent alot of monies renting a nice home and then had to break our contract because of the high school. I hope other parents don't make this mistake. We moved to Linn Marr which is much better. Linn Marr has more variety of classes and they have the advanced classes plus more choices for AP classes. Prairie has very few AP classes. They don't focus on academics at this high school. If you go to the school website, you will not find a high school course description or curricullum description which should have been a red flag for us. Linn Marr and West High have their school catologs and class descriptions online. Both schools are closed to students who are not in the boundaries so you have to move into the district. At Prairie, students are given a Mac laptop to take home and have to bring to EVERY class. Often, students are surfing the internet while teachers are lecturing. Teachers rarely give homework which requires the use of the laptop. It is a fancy gimmick. Most students in this district are from the subdivisions by the community college and in Shueyville. They are well to do and do not need a helping hand with laptops because they already have computers at home! Instead of spending school funds on laptops, the monies should have been spent for an improved academic curricullum. Yet, this is not the focus of this high school. Students are not allowed to wear backpacks, so students have to carry their books with them and their computers and stop at their lockers after each class to change books. Again, the school protcol is the laptops have to be present in every class just in case they need it for class which they don't. Pros: Offers German as a foreign language Laptops checked out for school and to take home Althletics; students do not have to try out but everyone is allowed on the team but less althletic students may not get to play during the games Althletically focused - a pro if your child is an athlete Homecoming is a BIG deal if that is your cup of tea - Reminds me of the movie "Carrie" Cons: No advanced or honors English classes offered in 10th grade Only a few AP classes are offered for 10th graders and not much more for 11th and 12th graders Few selection of classes Dominant cliques Not academically focused Laptops distract from class lectures Students who are smart and get outstanding grades are made fun of by the dominant cliques Few after school activities except for athletics If you grew up in this area, this review might be offensive. We moved here from the West Coast and are used to high standards in school, lots of after school clubs and activities, and rigorous/challenging classes which include Honors classes and lots of AP and IB classes which start at the Freshman level. Students are also academically competitive which drives other students to strive for higher attainment of academic goals. read more

I am a student at Prairie High School and I find that this school is one of the best in the area. The teachers and administration works with the students to make them feel welcome. There are a variety of classes offered from industrial tech to art. There is an outstanding fine arts program that is one of the best in the state and the band has a 27 straight division one ratings at state competition. Outside of fine arts there are many clubs that students can join. I believe there is a club for every student to be apart of. All the upper classes are welcoming to everyone and really take leadership in the school to show everyone around. The administrators work hard to make sure everyone feels welcome in our school and to eliminate cliques. Of course it is high school and cliques are going to be present where ever you go but prairie works hard to eliminate them and encourages students to go outside there comfort zone and talk to others they normally wouldnt. One of the best things about Prairie is the elective classes that are offered. There are classes for every major such as business, art, fine arts, engineering, industrial tech, automotive, and construction. I would highly recommend this school if you are looking to be in construction or engineering. Kirkwood Community College works closely with prairie and offers many classes through prairie. The A.P. classes are challenging for those that would like a challenge but for struggling students the staff works hard to keep them on track. They have programs to help the struggling students and work closely with them. In the end im am proud to call myself a Prairie Hawk and wouldn't say anything otherwise. read more

I'm currently a student at prairie high school and am thoroughly discussed by one of the other comments made about this high school. First prairie has many AP options for all of the students. It seems that it's lacking college level classes but instead many students go over to kirkwood community college less than a mile away for many classes. Next the idea that athletics is the only goal of prairie is laughable based on the fact that prairie has one of the best music programs in the state of iowa. The marching band has won 27 straight division 1 rankings at the state competition. In addition a great choir program with 3 fantastic concert choirs and two show choirs called ambassadors and focal point. This season ambassadors have won two competitions. Also having a multi-million dollar concert hall doesn't hurt anything either. In addition to choir and band prairie also offers many great clubs available to including speech club Best buddies Key club Science national honor society National honor society Art club Anime club Electric car Bpa Fccla Lego league Student council Hawktalk/hawks nest This school strongly believes in promoting all activities and principal Erik Anderson reminds us almost daily of the exciting activities and all if the great awards and recognition that all of out activities deserve. Another great thing about this school is that like most schools there are cliques but most of the students are very friendly and it's easy to be friends with many different types of people. Our school is very dedicated to anti bullying measures and students that come from other schools often comment on how much nicer people are here compared to other Cedar Rapids schools. In addition every teacher goes out of there way to make sure the students understand everything that is being taught and truly care about academics. I know I seem very biased but this school is such a great place to go to seeing ignorant and untrue comments enraged me and that is evidence right there just how great this school is. And I'm proud to apart of this great school #phawknation read more

This is an amazing school it's big and has caring students and amazing teachers I recommend this school for every kid also if you have younger kids awesome schools for them would be prairie hill heights ridge crest view point creek those schools also have great teachers and students read more