High school (grades 9-12) · Medicine Lake, MT

Medicine Lake High School

Federal NCES profile for Medicine Lake High School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 50/100.

2024-25 NCES dataHigh school (grades 9-12)NCES 301817000552
0/100100/10050/100
👥 S:T ratio
80
🌟 Gifted program
30
🎓 Counselors
90
📋 Attendance
0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →

The verdict

Medicine Lake High School earns 50/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 92% of Montana schools.

#3 of 3
public schools in Medicine Lake · Resource Index
50
Resource Index · Higher
5:1
small classes for Montana
25
students enrolled

Medicine Lake High School has class sizes smaller than 92% of Montana schools. Computed live against every Montana school reporting to NCES.

By Resource Investment Index, Medicine Lake High School ranks #3 of 3 public schools in Medicine Lake, MT.

Enrollment

25

Montana · 2024-25 NCES data

Teachers (FTE)

5.0

Federal CCD staff survey

Students per teacher

5:1

vs 11.8:1 Montana avg

-58% vs state

Student-teacher ratio in context

How Medicine Lake High School compares with Montana and U.S. medians

Smaller classes than state median
0:135:15:1

Source: NCES Common Core of Data As of 2024-25 federal staff survey Total enrollment ÷ full-time-equivalent classroom teachers

What stands out at Medicine Lake High School

Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing

Medicine Lake High School sits near the smaller end of the Montana enrollment distribution while also reporting a lower student-teacher ratio than most state schools. That pairing is consistent with a compact, teacher-dense setting, though small scale can limit the number of specialized courses or support roles a campus can sustain. The program and staffing sections below show whether the lean ratio extends beyond classroom teachers into broader student services.

Attendance is the dominant support signal

Medicine Lake High School's 52.0% 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.

Medicine Lake High School is a mid-sized high school in Medicine Lake, Montana, enrolling 25 students.

Classes run notably small here: at 5:1, Medicine Lake High School is leaner than roughly 92% of Montana schools and 58% under the state's 11.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.

Enrollment of 25 puts it in the smaller third of Montana schools by headcount.

Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 826 scored Montana schools.

Its student body is predominantly White (88% of enrollment) (diversity index 21/100).

No Advanced Placement courses are reported for this campus in the federal data.

Counselor coverage is strong, about 50 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.

Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 52.0% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).

The surrounding Medicine Lake K-12 Schools spends $36,702 per pupil, 85% above the Montana average, a better-resourced district than most.

Medicine Lake K-12 Schools also operates Medicine Lake School (47 students) and Medicine Lake 7-8 (16 students) alongside Medicine Lake High School.

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 Medicine Lake High School compares

Medicine Lake 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 5:1 ▼ 58% 11.8:1 15.7:1
Enrollment 25 top 75% - -

Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25

5:1
Leaner classes than 98% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
25
Bigger than 3% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.

Equity indicators (what these measure)

Staffing depth
5:1
students per teacher - 58% below state mean
Top 8% in Montana - lower ratio than 92% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
52.0%
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
$36,702
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
Counselors0.5 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.

Student demographics

White 88.0%
Hispanic or Latino 12.0%

Largest group: White at 88.0% of enrollment.

Student-body diversity index 21.1/100

Simpson diversity index - at 21.1, Medicine Lake High School is less mixed than the Montana school average of 23.6.

Programs

AP program Not offered

Funding & spending

District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Medicine Lake K-12 Schools, which includes Medicine Lake High School.

$36,702
Per student
+85%
vs Montana
Avg $19,859
+108%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 50.4%
State 40.7%
Federal 8.9%

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.

How Medicine Lake High School Compares to District-Mates

School Enrollment Economic Profile Student-Teacher Ratio
Medicine Lake School Larger No free-lunch data Similar S:T ratio
Medicine Lake 7-8 Smaller No free-lunch data Higher S:T ratio

Comparisons are relative to Medicine Lake High School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.

Other Schools in This District

Medicine Lake K-12 Schools · 2 sibling schools

View district profile

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.

Next steps

Verify locally before acting on Medicine Lake High School's federal record.

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 Medicine Lake High School

How many students attend Medicine Lake High School?

Medicine Lake High School has 25 students enrolled. It is a high school in Medicine Lake, MT.

What is the student-teacher ratio at Medicine Lake High School?

The student-teacher ratio at Medicine Lake High School is 5:1, which is 58% lower than the Montana average of 11.8:1 and 68% 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 Medicine Lake High School?

The largest demographic group at Medicine Lake High School is White at 88.0% of enrollment, in Medicine Lake, MT.

What is the Resource Investment Index for Medicine Lake High School?

Medicine Lake High School has a Resource Investment Index of 50/100 (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 Medicine Lake High School rank among public schools in Medicine Lake?

By Resource Investment Index, Medicine Lake High School ranks #3 of 3 public schools in Medicine Lake, 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 Medicine Lake K-12 Schools?

Besides Medicine Lake High School, Medicine Lake K-12 Schools also operates Medicine Lake School (47 students) and Medicine Lake 7-8 (16 students). See the Medicine Lake K-12 Schools district page for the complete list.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) CCD + Public School Universe (2024-25), CRDC (2021-22), F-33 District Finance Survey (FY 2022-23) · 2024-25 Data as of the 2024-25 school year. Coverage from U.S. Department of Education NCES Common Core of Data. Varies by entity type; administrative districts and certain charter networks may report only a subset of fields.

All federal data sources used on this page

Full source list and how we compute each figure: methodology page.

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.