Enrollment
5
Montana · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Carter, MT
Carter School
Federal NCES profile for Carter School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 40/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 300576000167
👥 S:T ratio 90
🌟 Gifted program 30
📋 Attendance 0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Carter School earns 40/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 98% of Montana schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in Montana.
- 40
- Resource Index · Typical
- 2.5:1
- small classes for Montana
- 5
- students enrolled
Carter School has class sizes smaller than 98% of Montana schools. Computed live against every Montana school reporting to NCES.
School address
Teachers (FTE)
2.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
2.5:1
vs 11.8:1 Montana avg
-79% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Carter School compares with Montana and U.S. medians
What stands out at Carter School
Carter School is a small combined-grade school in Carter, Montana, enrolling 5 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 2.5:1, Carter School is leaner than roughly 98% of Montana schools and 79% under the state's 11.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 96% of Montana schools, with 5 enrolled.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 826 scored Montana schools.
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 80.0% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
The surrounding Carter Elem spends $25,800 per pupil, 34% above the Montana average, a better-resourced district than most.
Among Carter's public schools, it stands alongside Knees School (13 students): Carter School is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (2.5:1 vs 13:1).
Carter Elem operates only this one school, so Carter School has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 5 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of Montana's single-school districts.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Carter School compares
Carter School on the metrics families compare, against Montana and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Montana | Montana avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 2.5:1 | ▼ 79% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 5 | top 96% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
2.5:1
Leaner classes than 100% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
5
Bigger than 1% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
2.5:1
students per teacher
- 79% below state mean
Top 2% in Montana - lower ratio than 98% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
80.0%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$25,800
per pupil, district-wide
- above Montana avg of $19,282
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.0 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Carter Elem, which includes Carter School.
$25,800
Per student
+34%
vs Montana
Avg $19,282
+55%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 56.0%
State 44.0%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Similar other schools in Carter
1 comparable other schools (grades Mixed) serving the same city.
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Montana, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~5 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~2.5:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Carter School's federal record.
- Compare Carter School against another school. Compare schools
- Carter Elem's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Carter School
How many students attend Carter School?
Carter School has 5 students enrolled. It is a public school in Carter, MT.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Carter School?
The student-teacher ratio at Carter School is 2.5:1, which is 79% lower than the Montana average of 11.8:1 and 84% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Carter School?
Carter School has a Resource Investment Index of 40/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 3 factors: student-teacher ratio, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Carter School a good school?
Carter School earns 40/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 98% of Montana schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in Montana. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Carter Elem?
None reported; Carter Elem operates only Carter School as a public school district in NCES's records.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.