35 public K-12 schools in Columbia from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
National city placement
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Columbia has more public-school enrollment than 92% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Columbia lands in the upper national tier on both the average Resource Investment Index and teacher staffing intensity. Those measures come from different inputs: the index combines reported counselors, gifted access, attendance, and staffing, while the staffing percentile compares the city's student-teacher ratio directly. Agreement across both measures is stronger evidence of broad reported capacity than either score alone, though neither is a test-score rating or a guarantee about an individual classroom.
20 of Columbia's 35 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
The 31-point gap between Two Mile Prairie Elem. and Delmar a Cobble School shows the range hidden by Columbia's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.
Columbia school enrollment ranges from 8 students (lowest) to 2,007 students (highest), a spread of 1,999 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
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
| # | School | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Two Mile Prairie Elem. | 69 |
| 2. | Midway Heights Elem. | 56 |
| 3. | John Ridgeway Elem. | 56 |
| 4. | Mill Creek Elem. | 55 |
| 5. | John Warner Middle School | 55 |
| 6. | Parkade Elem. | 55 |
| 7. | Ulysses S. Grant Elem. | 55 |
| 8. | Locust St Expressive Arts Elem | 55 |
| 9. | Smithton Middle | 53 |
| 10. | Jefferson Middle School | 53 |
| 11. | New Haven Elem. | 53 |
| 12. | Juvenile Justice Ctr. | 53 |
| 13. | Beulah Ralph Elementary | 52 |
| 14. | Mary Paxton Keeley Elem. | 52 |
| 15. | Eliot Battle Elementary | 52 |
| 16. | Rock Bridge Sr. High | 51 |
| 17. | Ann Hawkins Gentry Middle | 51 |
| 18. | Thomas Benton Elem. | 51 |
| 19. | Derby Ridge Elem. | 50 |
| 20. | Shepard Blvd. Elem. | 49 |
| 21. | Fairview Elem. | 49 |
| 22. | Center for Early Lrning-North | 49 |
| 23. | West Blvd. Elem. | 49 |
| 24. | Frederick Douglass High | 48 |
| 25. | West Middle School | 47 |
| 26. | Russell Blvd. Elem. | 47 |
| 27. | Blue Ridge Elem. | 47 |
| 28. | Cedar Ridge Elem. | 47 |
| 29. | Rock Bridge Elem. | 46 |
| 30. | David H. Hickman High | 45 |
| 31. | Oakland Middle School | 43 |
| 32. | Alpha Hart Lewis | 43 |
| 33. | Muriel W. Battle High School | 41 |
| 34. | John B. Lange Middle | 40 |
| 35. | Delmar a Cobble School | 38 |
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.
Two Mile Prairie Elem. has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Columbia schools in this federal-data comparison at 69/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
Columbia has 35 public schools with a total enrollment of 18,648 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 13:1.
Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Missouri →
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.
