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Underwood, North Dakota - 2 schools
An equity score of 62/100 ranks Underwood 8 #26 of 101 districts in North Dakota (state average 51). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,060 per pupil, Underwood 8 ranks #97 of 168 North Dakota districts by per-pupil spending (North Dakota districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
224
Total Enrollment
2
Schools
$16,060
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Underwood 8 operates 2 public schools serving 224 students, placing it among the smallest districts in North Dakota. The school portfolio breaks down into 2 combined 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 Mclean County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $16,060 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 168 North Dakota districts by per-pupil spending. See how North Dakota compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 39.4% local, 50.4% state, and 10.3% 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 62/100, ranked #26 of 101 in North Dakota against a state average of 51, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
a 189:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 15.9% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 91.5% White, 3.1% African American, 0.6% Asian across the district's schools.
Its largest campus is Underwood High School, enrolling 98 students (52% of the district's total enrollment).
Underwood High School accounts for 43.8% of all Underwood 8 student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Underwood 8-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: combined. 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.
Underwood 8 student-counselor ratio is 189:1 — low (typically associated with meeting or exceeding the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommended 250:1 benchmark, which correlates with stronger college and career counseling capacity)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Underwood 8 chronic absenteeism rate is 15.9% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
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 Variation between sub-units within Underwood 8 is typically wider than the Underwood 8-aggregate figure suggests.