NCES CCD 2024-25 7 schools MN

Best-Resourced Schools in Big Lake, MN

Compiled from official source data by .

7 public K-12 schools in Big Lake from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
7
Schools
3,229
Students
37.7/100
Avg Resource Index
22.1:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Big Lake has more public-school enrollment than 32% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Big Lake sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

A full K–12 ladder sits inside the city boundary

Big Lake's list includes 2 elementary, 1 middle, and 2 high-school campuses, plus 2 combined-grade records. The city average spans every major grade stage, so the ranked table is more informative when read within level than as one interchangeable queue.

A small portfolio contains radically different campus scales

Big Lake lists only 7 schools, yet reported enrollment runs from 24 to 902 students, a 38-fold range. In a portfolio this compact, the smallest record may be a specialized or nonstandard setting rather than a miniature version of the largest campus. That distinction affects how ratios and program fields should be read. Compare similarly configured grade levels first; combining the extremes into one city average conceals more than it explains.

City enrollment
Top 68%
School count
Top 65%
Resource Index average
36th percentile
Teacher staffing
8th percentile

Big Lake Senior High accounts for 27.9% of all Big Lake public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Big Lake-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Big Lake school enrollment varies 38× across entities

Big Lake school enrollment ranges from 24 students (lowest) to 902 students (highest), a spread of 878 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Big Lake student-teacher ratio is 22.1:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Snw - Big Lake Hs Transitions 68
2. Big Lake Online K-5 55
3. Independence Elementary 53
4. Big Lake Online 6-12 34
5. Liberty Elementary 30
6. Big Lake Senior High 15
7. Big Lake Middle School 9

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Big Lake

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Big Lake Online K-5 55.6/100
  2. 2 Big Lake Online 6-12 48.2/100
  3. 3 Big Lake Middle School 42.3/100
  4. 4 Big Lake Senior High 41.0/100
  5. 5 Liberty Elementary 39.3/100

What do families ask about schools in Big Lake?

Which Big Lake school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Snw - Big Lake Hs Transitions has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Big Lake schools in this federal-data comparison at 68/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Big Lake, MN? ▼

Big Lake has 7 public schools with a total enrollment of 3,229 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 22.1:1.

Other Cities in Minnesota

Saint Paul
150 schools
Minneapolis
141 schools
Rochester
48 schools
Duluth
31 schools
Brooklyn Park
30 schools
Plymouth
27 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Minnesota →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.