NCES CCD 2024-25 12 schools MN

Best-Resourced Schools in Northfield, MN

Compiled from official source data by .

12 public K-12 schools in Northfield 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
12
Schools
4,213
Students
45.5/100
Avg Resource Index
18.1:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Resource breadth with tighter class loads

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Northfield has more public-school enrollment than 47% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Northfield's average Resource Investment Index ranks above most listed cities even though its student-teacher ratio is on the more crowded side of the national city distribution. That is a useful mismatch, not a contradiction: counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance can lift the composite while classroom staffing remains comparatively tight. Families should inspect the component scores on each school profile instead of reading the city index as a shorthand for small classes.

A full K–12 ladder sits inside the city boundary

Northfield's list includes 5 elementary, 2 middle, and 2 high-school campuses, plus 3 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.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

Northfield's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 72nd percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 25th percentile. The 47-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment
Top 53%
School count
Top 31%
Resource Index average
72nd percentile
Teacher staffing
25th percentile

Northfield Senior High accounts for 30.5% of all Northfield public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Northfield-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

Northfield school enrollment varies 92× across entities

Northfield school enrollment ranges from 14 students (lowest) to 1,283 students (highest), a spread of 1,269 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. 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

Northfield student-teacher ratio is 18.1:1 — 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

2 of Northfield's 12 listed schools are charters

17% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Northfield Portage Elementary 61
2. Prairie Creek Community School 56
3. Bridgewater Elementary 55
4. Spring Creek Elementary 53
5. Northfield Community Education Cntr 51
6. Northfield Area Learning Center 50
7. Northfield Portage High School 48
8. Greenvale Park Elementary 41
9. Northfield Middle 37
10. Arcadia Charter School 35
11. Northfield Portage Middle School 31
12. Northfield Senior High 28

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Northfield

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 Northfield Community Education Cntr 56.7/100
  2. 2 Greenvale Park Elementary 54.4/100
  3. 3 Northfield Area Learning Center 53.6/100
  4. 4 Northfield Senior High 39.2/100
  5. 5 Northfield Middle 39.2/100

What do families ask about schools in Northfield?

Which Northfield school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Northfield Portage Elementary has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Northfield schools in this federal-data comparison at 61/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Northfield, MN? ▼

Northfield has 12 public schools with a total enrollment of 4,213 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 18.1:1.

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.