NCES CCD 2024-25 5 schools ND

Best-Resourced Schools in Watford City, ND

Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools. · Updated August 2026

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

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Schools

2,306

Students

39.4/100

Avg Resource Index

21.5:1

Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Compact, single-district system

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Watford City has more public-school enrollment than 17% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Watford City's 5 listed schools all sit inside one district, creating a compact governance structure with one budget, board, and reporting chain. That makes citywide comparisons cleaner than in places split across several districts, but it does not make the campuses interchangeable: elementary, middle, and high-school staffing needs differ. The ranked list is best read as variation inside one system rather than competition among separate local authorities.

Secondary campuses occupy an unusually large share

2 of the 5 listed Watford City schools are classified as high schools, a substantial share of the local portfolio. Advanced-course access, counseling, and graduation-stage staffing therefore have more weight in the city Resource Index average than they do in an elementary-heavy system.

A small portfolio contains radically different campus scales

Watford City lists only 5 schools, yet reported enrollment runs from 30 to 663 students, a 22-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 83%
School count: Top 99%
Resource Index average: 43rd percentile
Teacher staffing: 10th percentile

Fox Hills Elementary School accounts for 28.8% of all Watford City public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Watford City-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: Elementary. 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 Accessed 2026-08-26

Watford City school enrollment varies 22× across entities

Watford City school enrollment ranges from 30 students (lowest) to 663 students (highest), a spread of 633 students. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. 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 Accessed 2026-08-26

Watford City operates one school district — a single-district system

Watford City's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data Accessed 2026-08-26

Watford City student-teacher ratio is 21.5:1 — 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 Accessed 2026-08-26

#	School	Score	Enrollment	Level	District
1.	Wolves Center Academy	52	30	high	Mckenzie Co 1
2.	Watford City Middle School	46	509	middle	Mckenzie Co 1
3.	Fox Hills Elementary School	39	663	elementary	Mckenzie Co 1
4.	Watford City High School	36	566	high	Mckenzie Co 1
5.	Badlands Elementary School	24	538	Combined	Mckenzie Co 1

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Watford City

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.

What do families ask about schools in Watford City?

Which Watford City school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Wolves Center Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Watford City schools in this federal-data comparison at 52/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Watford City, ND? ▼

Watford City has 5 public schools with a total enrollment of 2,306 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 21.5:1.

Other Cities in North Dakota

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

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.