Enrollment
168
Illinois · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Cowden, IL
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School
Federal NCES profile for Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 51/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 170017602389
👥 S:T ratio 65
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 66
📋 Attendance 43
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School earns 51/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 95% of Illinois schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Illinois schools.
- 51
- Resource Index · Higher
- 8.8:1
- small classes for Illinois
- 168
- students enrolled
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School has class sizes smaller than 95% of Illinois schools. Computed live against every Illinois school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a · Illinois
NCES ID 170017602389 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
19.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
8.8:1
vs 14:1 Illinois avg
-37% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School compares with Illinois and U.S. medians
What stands out at Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School is a small combined-grade school in Cowden, Illinois, enrolling 168 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 8.8:1, Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School is leaner than roughly 95% of Illinois schools and 37% under the state's 14:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Enrollment of 168 puts it in the smaller third of Illinois schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 3,845 scored Illinois schools.
Its student body is predominantly White (98% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 5/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 168 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Attendance runs somewhat below the norm, with 22.6% of students chronically absent per the 2021-22 civil-rights collection.
Its district draws 19.2% of revenue from federal sources, an above-typical federal share that tends to track a higher-need student population.
Its district, Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a, also runs Cowden-Herrick Grade School (175 students).
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 Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School compares
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School on the metrics families compare, against Illinois and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Illinois | Illinois avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 8.8:1 | ▼ 37% | 14:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 168 | top 87% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
8.8:1
Leaner classes than 93% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
168
Bigger than 16% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
8.8:1
students per teacher
- 37% below state mean
Top 5% in Illinois - lower ratio than 95% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
22.6%
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
$16,782
per pupil, district-wide
- below Illinois avg of $17,042
Close to the U.S. public-school average per-pupil spend.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 168 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
7
in-school suspensions + 10 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 4.2 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 10.1 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.
Student demographics
White 97.6%
African American 0.6%
Asian 0.6%
American Indian / Alaska Native 0.6%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander 0.6%
Largest group: White at 97.6% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 4.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 4.7, Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School is less mixed than the Illinois school average of 38.9.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a, which includes Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School.
$16,782
Per student
-2%
vs Illinois
Avg $17,042
+1%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 26.4%
State 54.4%
Federal 19.2%
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.
How Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowden-Herrick Grade School | Similar size | No free-lunch data | Higher S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 175
- Students per teacher
- 12.5:1
- Resource Index
- 57/100
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Illinois, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~168 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~8.8:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School's federal record.
- Compare Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School against another school. Compare schools
- Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a'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 Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School
How many students attend Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School?
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School has 168 students enrolled. It is a public school in Cowden, IL.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School?
The student-teacher ratio at Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School is 8.8:1, which is 37% lower than the Illinois average of 14:1 and 44% 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 Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School?
The largest demographic group at Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School is White at 97.6% of enrollment, in Cowden, IL.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School?
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School has a Resource Investment Index of 51/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School a good school?
Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School earns 51/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 95% of Illinois schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Illinois schools. 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 Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a?
Besides Cowden-Herrick Jr/Sr High School, Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a also operates Cowden-Herrick Grade School (175 students). See the Cowden-Herrick Cusd 3a district page for the complete list.
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.