Enrollment
47
Montana · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Medicine Lake, MT
Medicine Lake School
Federal NCES profile for Medicine Lake School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 59/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 301817000551
👥 S:T ratio 76
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 81
📋 Attendance 47
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Medicine Lake School earns 59/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 90% of Montana schools.
- #1 of 3
- public schools in Medicine Lake · Resource Index
- 59
- Resource Index · Higher
- 5.9:1
- small classes for Montana
- 47
- students enrolled
Medicine Lake School has class sizes smaller than 90% of Montana schools. Computed live against every Montana school reporting to NCES.
By Resource Investment Index, Medicine Lake School ranks #1 of 3 public schools in Medicine Lake, MT.
School address
District: Medicine Lake K-12 Schools · Montana
NCES ID 301817000551 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
8.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
5.9:1
vs 11.8:1 Montana avg
-50% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Medicine Lake School compares with Montana and U.S. medians
What stands out at Medicine Lake School
Teacher staffing is the clearest operational strength
Medicine Lake School's enrollment is not at an extreme, but its student-teacher ratio is: it reports fewer students per teacher than most Montana schools. This is the most distinctive scale-adjusted signal in the federal record. It should be read as staffing capacity, not class size or an academic outcome; the page separately reports attendance, program access, demographics, and district finance so a single favorable ratio does not become an unsupported overall rating.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Medicine Lake 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.
Medicine Lake School is a mid-sized combined-grade school in Medicine Lake, Montana, enrolling 47 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 5.9:1, Medicine Lake School is leaner than roughly 90% of Montana schools and 50% under the state's 11.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
With 47 students, its enrollment sits close to the Montana median campus size.
Its Resource Investment Index outscores 91% of the 826 Montana schools with a score on record, a top-tier result on this measure.
Its student body is predominantly White (87% of enrollment) (diversity index 23/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 94 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Attendance runs somewhat below the norm, with 21.3% of students chronically absent per the 2021-22 civil-rights 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 High School (25 students) and Medicine Lake 7-8 (16 students) alongside Medicine Lake 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 School compares
Medicine Lake 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 | 5.9:1 | ▼ 50% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 47 | top 62% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
5.9:1
Leaner classes than 98% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
47
Bigger than 5% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
5.9:1
students per teacher
- 50% below state mean
Top 10% in Montana - lower ratio than 90% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
21.3%
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 87.2%
American Indian / Alaska Native 8.5%
Hispanic or Latino 4.3%
Largest group: White at 87.2% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 23.1/100
Simpson diversity index - at 23.1, Medicine Lake School is about as mixed as the Montana school average of 23.6.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Medicine Lake K-12 Schools, which includes Medicine Lake 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 School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine Lake High School | Smaller | 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 School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 25
- Students per teacher
- 5:1
- Resource Index
- 50/100
- Enrollment
- 16
- Students per teacher
- 8:1
- Resource Index
- 53/100
Similar other 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 (~47 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~5.9:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Medicine Lake School's federal record.
- Compare Medicine Lake School against another school. Compare schools
- Medicine Lake K-12 Schools'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 Medicine Lake School
How many students attend Medicine Lake School?
Medicine Lake School has 47 students enrolled. It is a public school in Medicine Lake, MT.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Medicine Lake School?
The student-teacher ratio at Medicine Lake School is 5.9:1, which is 50% lower than the Montana average of 11.8:1 and 62% 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 School?
The largest demographic group at Medicine Lake School is White at 87.2% of enrollment, in Medicine Lake, MT.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Medicine Lake School?
Medicine Lake School has a Resource Investment Index of 59/100 (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 School rank among public schools in Medicine Lake?
By Resource Investment Index, Medicine Lake School ranks #1 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 School, Medicine Lake K-12 Schools also operates Medicine Lake High School (25 students) and Medicine Lake 7-8 (16 students). See the Medicine Lake K-12 Schools 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, the data changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.