NCES CCD 2024-25 15 schools MT

Best-Resourced Schools in Helena, MT

Compiled from official source data by .

15 public K-12 schools in Helena 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
15
Schools
7,152
Students
39/100
Avg Resource Index
14.3:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Helena has more public-school enrollment than 70% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Helena 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

11 of Helena's 15 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.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 24-point gap between Jefferson School and Four Georgians School shows the range hidden by Helena'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.

City enrollment
Top 30%
School count
Top 23%
Resource Index average
41st percentile
Teacher staffing
63rd percentile

Capital High School accounts for 18.1% of all Helena public-school enrollment

That concentration means Helena-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

Helena school enrollment varies 7.1× across entities

Helena school enrollment ranges from 183 students (lowest) to 1,293 students (highest), a spread of 1,110 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. 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

Helena student-teacher ratio is 14.3:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

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 Variation between sub-units within Helena is typically wider than the Helena-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Jefferson School 49
2. Central School 48
3. Smith School 45
4. Broadwater School 45
5. Helena High School 43
6. Kessler Elementary School 43
7. Warren School 41
8. Capital High School 40
9. Helena Middle School 38
10. Bryant School 37
11. C R Anderson Middle Schl 36
12. Hawthorne School 36
13. Rossiter School 32
14. Jim Darcy School 27
15. Four Georgians School 25

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Helena

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 Bryant School 46.4/100
  2. 2 Smith School 45.4/100
  3. 3 Central School 36.8/100
  4. 4 Broadwater School 35.9/100
  5. 5 Helena High School 29.4/100

What do families ask about schools in Helena?

Which Helena school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Jefferson School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Helena schools in this federal-data comparison at 49/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Helena, MT? ▼

Helena has 15 public schools with a total enrollment of 7,152 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 14.3:1.

Other Cities in Montana

Billings
43 schools
Missoula
23 schools
Bozeman
22 schools
Great Falls
22 schools
Kalispell
22 schools
Cut Bank
11 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.