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Ossian, Indiana - 4 schools
An equity score of 26/100 ranks Northern Wells Community Schools #322 of 373 districts in Indiana (state average 50). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $10,685 per pupil, Northern Wells Community Schools ranks #309 of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending (Indiana districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
2,464
Total Enrollment
4
Schools
$10,685
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Northern Wells Community Schools operates 4 public schools serving 2,464 students, placing it among the smallest districts in Indiana. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined, 1 high, 1 middle schools, a small enough portfolio that most families will interact with nearly every campus in the district at some point. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Wells County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $10,685 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 406 Indiana districts by per-pupil spending. See how Indiana compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 32.6% local, 59.3% state, and 8.1% federal, a state-revenue-heavy mix that insulates the district somewhat from local property-tax volatility, though it ties funding to state budget cycles. The district's equity score is 26/100, ranked #322 of 373 in Indiana against a state average of 50, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 4 schools offering Advanced Placement (4 AP courses district-wide), a 407.6:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 10.4% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 89.3% White, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 1.1% African American across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Lancaster Central School, with a diversity index of 25.1/100.
Its largest campus is Norwell High School, enrolling 753 students (31% of the district's total enrollment).
Norwell High School accounts for 30.6% of all Northern Wells Community Schools student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Northern Wells Community Schools-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Northern Wells Community Schools student-counselor ratio is 408:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Northern Wells Community Schools chronic absenteeism rate is 10.4% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Comparisons are relative to Northern Wells Community Schools's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data and the F-33 Finance Survey.
Nearby Districts in Indiana
Top districts in the same state, compare side-by-side for enrollment, spending, and demographics.