NCES CCD 2024-25 6 schools MT

Best-Resourced Schools in Columbia Falls, MT

Compiled from official source data by .

6 public K-12 schools in Columbia Falls 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
6
Schools
2,364
Students
36.7/100
Avg Resource Index
13.9:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Columbia Falls has more public-school enrollment than 18% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Columbia Falls 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.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

3 of Columbia Falls's 6 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.

A small portfolio contains radically different campus scales

Columbia Falls lists only 6 schools, yet reported enrollment runs from 48 to 691 students, a 14-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 82%
School count
Top 79%
Resource Index average
32nd percentile
Teacher staffing
68th percentile

Columbia Falls High Schl accounts for 29.2% of all Columbia Falls public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Columbia Falls-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

Columbia Falls school enrollment varies 14× across entities

Columbia Falls school enrollment ranges from 48 students (lowest) to 691 students (highest), a spread of 643 students. That spread reflects typical urban portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. 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

Columbia Falls student-teacher ratio is 13.9:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

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.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Deer Park School 43
2. Deer Park 6-8 42
3. Columbia Falls Jr Hs 39
4. Columbia Falls High Schl 35
5. Glacier Gateway Elem 32
6. Ruder Elementary 29

What do families ask about schools in Columbia Falls?

Which Columbia Falls school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Deer Park School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Columbia Falls schools in this federal-data comparison at 43/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Columbia Falls, MT? ▼

Columbia Falls has 6 public schools with a total enrollment of 2,364 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 13.9:1.

Other Cities in Montana

Billings
43 schools
Missoula
23 schools
Bozeman
22 schools
Great Falls
22 schools
Kalispell
22 schools
Helena
15 schools

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

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.