Enrollment
87
North Dakota · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Kulm, ND
Kulm Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Kulm Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 63/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 381050000338
👥 S:T ratio 65
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 71
📋 Attendance 86
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Kulm Elementary School earns 63/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 76% of North Dakota schools.
- 63
- Resource Index · Higher
- 8.7:1
- small classes for North Dakota
- 11.1%
- free-lunch eligible
- 87
- students enrolled
Kulm Elementary School has class sizes smaller than 76% of North Dakota schools. Computed live against every North Dakota school reporting to NCES.
School address
Teachers (FTE)
10.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
8.7:1
vs 11.8:1 North Dakota avg
-26% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
11.1%
vs 28.2% North Dakota avg
-61% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Kulm Elementary School compares with North Dakota and U.S. medians
What stands out at Kulm Elementary School
Scale and staffing sit near the state mainstream
Kulm 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.
Lower need and stronger resource signals align
Kulm Elementary School reports lower free-meal eligibility than most North Dakota schools and an above-typical Resource Investment Index. The two measures move together, a pattern consistent with the resource advantages that often accompany a lower-need intake. That association should not be mistaken for a causal verdict about the school; it is a transparent description of how this campus sits on two independent federal-data dimensions.
Attendance is a relative strength
5.7% of Kulm Elementary School students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 civil-rights collection. On its face, that is a comparatively low historical rate, though this page does not treat it as a current national benchmark or guarantee current-year performance. Here, attendance is a more distinctive signal than the presence or absence of any single specialist role.
Kulm Elementary School is a lower-poverty, mid-sized combined-grade school in Kulm, North Dakota, enrolling 87 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 8.7:1 puts it in the smaller third of North Dakota schools by student-teacher ratio.
Comparatively few students face economic hardship here, 11.1% free-meal eligibility runs 61% below the North Dakota average.
Enrollment of 87 puts it in the smaller third of North Dakota schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index outscores 90% of the 498 North Dakota schools with a score on record, a top-tier result on this measure.
Against 65 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #11.
Its student body is predominantly White (86% of enrollment) (diversity index 25/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 145 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Attendance holds up well here: only 5.7% of students were chronically absent, below the typical post-pandemic national figure.
Its district, Kulm 7, also runs Kulm High School (36 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 Kulm Elementary School compares
Kulm 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 | 8.7:1 | ▼ 26% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 11.1% | ▼ 61% | 28.2% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 87 | top 69% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
8.7:1
Leaner classes than 93% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
87
Bigger than 9% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
11.1%
free-lunch eligible
- 61% below the North Dakota average of 28.2%
Below the 40% Title I threshold, among the lower-need profiles in the state; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
8.7:1
students per teacher
- 26% below state mean
Top 24% in North Dakota - lower ratio than 76% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
5.7%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 5-10% range, close to the pre-pandemic national baseline.
Funding equity
$21,339
per pupil, district-wide
- above North Dakota avg of $18,450
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.6 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
3
in-school suspensions + 1 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 3.4 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 4.6 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Student demographics
White 86.2%
Hispanic or Latino 8.0%
African American 2.3%
Two or More 2.3%
American Indian / Alaska Native 1.1%
Largest group: White at 86.2% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 24.9/100
Simpson diversity index - at 24.9, Kulm Elementary School is less mixed than the North Dakota school average of 29.7.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Kulm 7, which includes Kulm Elementary School.
$21,339
Per student
+16%
vs North Dakota
Avg $18,450
+29%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 51.5%
State 42.9%
Federal 5.6%
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 Kulm Elementary School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kulm High School | Smaller | Similar economic need | Similar S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Kulm Elementary School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 36
- Students per teacher
- 9:1
- Resource Index
- 46/100
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 (~87 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Kulm Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Kulm Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Kulm 7'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 Kulm Elementary School
How many students attend Kulm Elementary School?
Kulm Elementary School has 87 students enrolled. It is a public school in Kulm, ND.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Kulm Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Kulm Elementary School is 8.7:1, which is 26% lower than the North Dakota average of 11.8:1 and 45% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Kulm Elementary School?
11.1% of students at Kulm Elementary School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the North Dakota average of 28.2%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Kulm Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Kulm Elementary School is White at 86.2% of enrollment, in Kulm, ND.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Kulm Elementary School?
Kulm Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 63/100 (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 Kulm 7?
Besides Kulm Elementary School, Kulm 7 also operates Kulm High School (36 students). See the Kulm 7 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.