Enrollment
155
Montana · 2024-25 NCES data
High school (grades 9-12) · Colstrip, MT
Colstrip High School
Federal NCES profile for Colstrip High School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 60/100.
2024-25 NCES dataHigh school (grades 9-12)NCES 300708000194
👥 S:T ratio 67
🌟 Gifted program 70
🎓 Counselors 69
📋 Attendance 36
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Colstrip High School earns 60/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 77% of Montana schools. It is also more racially and ethnically mixed than most Montana schools.
- #1 of 3
- public schools in Colstrip · Resource Index
- 60
- Resource Index · Higher
- 8.2:1
- small classes for Montana
- 155
- students enrolled
Colstrip High School has class sizes smaller than 77% of Montana schools. Computed live against every Montana school reporting to NCES.
By Resource Investment Index, Colstrip High School ranks #1 of 3 public schools in Colstrip, MT.
School address
District: Colstrip H S · Montana
NCES ID 300708000194 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
19.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
8.2:1
vs 11.8:1 Montana avg
-31% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Colstrip High School compares with Montana and U.S. medians
What stands out at Colstrip High School
Scale and staffing sit near the state mainstream
Colstrip High School is neither an extreme outlier in enrollment nor in student-teacher ratio among Montana schools. Its profile therefore turns on the other dimensions rather than on scale alone: economic need, counselor coverage, program access, attendance, and district finance. This middle placement is useful because it prevents the campus from being mislabeled as unusually large, small, crowded, or teacher-dense when the federal comparison does not support that claim.
Attendance is the dominant support signal
Colstrip High School's 25.8% chronic-absence rate is more consequential than a generic staffing label: at least one quarter of students missed 10% or more of school days in the 2021-22 collection. That level can affect instruction, counseling demand, and continuity even when other reported resources look ordinary. The dataset records the scale of absence but not its causes, so it should prompt a current-year question rather than a conclusion about school management.
Colstrip High School is a mid-sized high school in Colstrip, Montana, enrolling 155 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 8.2:1 puts it in the smaller third of Montana schools by student-teacher ratio.
With 155 students, its enrollment sits close to the Montana median campus size.
Its Resource Investment Index outscores 92% of the 826 Montana schools with a score on record, a top-tier result on this measure.
Its student body is led by White (50%) and American Indian / Alaska Native (30%), more mixed than most schools in the state (diversity index 64/100).
No Advanced Placement courses are reported for this campus in the federal data.
Counselor coverage is strong, about 155 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 25.8% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
The surrounding Colstrip H S spends $33,940 per pupil, 71% above the Montana average, a better-resourced district than most.
Colstrip H S operates only this one school, so Colstrip High School has no district-mates to compare against locally.
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 Colstrip High School compares
Colstrip High 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 | 8.2:1 | ▼ 31% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 155 | top 37% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
8.2:1
Leaner classes than 95% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
155
Bigger than 15% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
8.2:1
students per teacher
- 31% below state mean
Top 23% in Montana - lower ratio than 77% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
25.8%
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
$33,940
per pupil, district-wide
- above Montana avg of $19,859
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 155 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
13
in-school suspensions + 7 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 8.4 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 12.9 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Student demographics
White 50.3%
American Indian / Alaska Native 29.7%
Two or More 9.7%
Hispanic or Latino 7.7%
Asian 2.6%
Largest group: White at 50.3% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 64.3/100
Simpson diversity index - at 64.3, Colstrip High School is more mixed than the Montana school average of 23.6.
Programs
AP program Not offered
Gifted & talented Yes
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Colstrip H S, which includes Colstrip High School.
$33,940
Per student
+71%
vs Montana
Avg $19,859
+92%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 56.0%
State 40.9%
Federal 3.1%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2022-23 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Similar high 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 (~155 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~8.2:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Colstrip High School's federal record.
- Compare Colstrip High School against another school. Compare schools
- Colstrip H S'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 Colstrip High School
How many students attend Colstrip High School?
Colstrip High School has 155 students enrolled. It is a high school in Colstrip, MT.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Colstrip High School?
The student-teacher ratio at Colstrip High School is 8.2:1, which is 31% lower than the Montana average of 11.8:1 and 48% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Colstrip High School?
The largest demographic group at Colstrip High School is White at 50.3% of enrollment, in Colstrip, MT. Its student body is more racially and ethnically mixed than most US schools, with a diversity index of 64.3/100.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Colstrip High School?
Colstrip High School has a Resource Investment Index of 60/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, counselor availability, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
How does Colstrip High School rank among public schools in Colstrip?
By Resource Investment Index, Colstrip High School ranks #1 of 3 public schools in Colstrip, MT. This compares federal resource and staffing data among local peers; it is not a test-score or academic ranking.
What other schools are in Colstrip H S?
None reported; Colstrip H S operates only Colstrip High 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, the data changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.