Enrollment
140
North Dakota · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Fessenden, ND
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 52/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 380004900212
👥 S:T ratio 49
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 72
📋 Attendance 57
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School earns 52/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes near the North Dakota median. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most North Dakota schools.
- 52
- Resource Index · Higher
- 12.7:1
- students per teacher
- 12.3%
- free-lunch eligible
- 140
- students enrolled
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School has class sizes near the North Dakota median. Computed live against every North Dakota school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Fessenden-Bowdon 25 · North Dakota
NCES ID 380004900212 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
11.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
12.7:1
vs 11.8:1 North Dakota avg
+8% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
12.3%
vs 28.2% North Dakota avg
-56% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School compares with North Dakota and U.S. medians
What stands out at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School
Scale and staffing sit near the state mainstream
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School is neither an extreme outlier in enrollment nor in student-teacher ratio among North Dakota 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.
Need and resources require a component-level read
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School falls within the wide middle of the North Dakota distribution on both free-meal eligibility and the Resource Investment Index. Neither measure supplies an honest headline by itself. The useful distinctions are in the components: classroom staffing, counselor availability, attendance, gifted-program access, and district spending. Those fields can pull in opposite directions even when the overall percentile looks ordinary.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School serves a combined grade span rather than a conventional elementary, middle, or high-school band. That structure can require the same campus to cover transitions, counseling needs, and programs for students at substantially different developmental stages, so a single staffing ratio deserves more caution than it would at a narrower-grade school. Federal totals show the available people and programs, but not how those resources are divided among grade levels.
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School is a lower-poverty, mid-sized combined-grade school in Fessenden, North Dakota, enrolling 140 students.
Class loads run somewhat heavier than typical: 12.7:1 puts it in the larger third of North Dakota schools by student-teacher ratio.
Economic need runs somewhat below the state's typical profile, with 12.3% of students eligible for free meals.
With 140 students, its enrollment sits close to the North Dakota median campus size.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 498 scored North Dakota schools.
Against 101 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #51.
Its student body is predominantly White (98% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 4/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 140 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
17.1% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.
Its district, Fessenden-Bowdon 25, also runs Fessenden-Bowdon High School (56 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 Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School compares
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School on the metrics families compare, against North Dakota and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs North Dakota | North Dakota avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 12.7:1 | ▲ 8% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 12.3% | ▼ 56% | 28.2% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 140 | top 51% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
12.7:1
Leaner classes than 69% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
140
Bigger than 14% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
12.3%
free-lunch eligible
- 56% below the North Dakota average of 28.2%
Below the 40% Title I threshold; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
12.7:1
students per teacher
- 8% above state mean
Top 64% in North Dakota - lower ratio than 36% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
17.1%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 15-20% range, nearing the "high" absenteeism threshold.
Funding equity
$16,781
per pupil, district-wide
- below North Dakota avg of $18,450
Close to the U.S. public-school average per-pupil spend.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 140 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
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.
Student demographics
White 97.9%
Hispanic or Latino 1.4%
Two or More 0.7%
Largest group: White at 97.9% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 4.1/100
Simpson diversity index - at 4.1, Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School is less mixed than the North Dakota school average of 29.7.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Fessenden-Bowdon 25, which includes Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School.
$16,781
Per student
-9%
vs North Dakota
Avg $18,450
+1%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 42.8%
State 49.1%
Federal 8.1%
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 Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fessenden-Bowdon High School | Smaller | Similar economic need | Lower S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 56
- Students per teacher
- 11.2:1
- Resource Index
- 61/100
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of North Dakota, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~140 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Fessenden-Bowdon 25'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 Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School
How many students attend Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School?
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School has 140 students enrolled. It is a public school in Fessenden, ND.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School is 12.7:1, which is 8% higher than the North Dakota average of 11.8:1 and 19% lower than the national average of 15.7:1.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School?
12.3% of students at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the North Dakota average of 28.2%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School is White at 97.9% of enrollment, in Fessenden, ND.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School?
Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 52/100 (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).
What other schools are in Fessenden-Bowdon 25?
Besides Fessenden-Bowdon Elementary School, Fessenden-Bowdon 25 also operates Fessenden-Bowdon High School (56 students). See the Fessenden-Bowdon 25 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 July 2026.