Enrollment
8
Montana · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Polaris, MT
Polaris School
Federal NCES profile for Polaris School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 49/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 302103000629
👥 S:T ratio 68
🌟 Gifted program 30
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Polaris School earns 49/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 77% of Montana schools.
- 49
- Resource Index · Higher
- 8:1
- small classes for Montana
- 8
- students enrolled
Polaris School has class sizes smaller than 77% of Montana schools. Computed live against every Montana school reporting to NCES.
School address
Teachers (FTE)
1.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
8:1
vs 11.8:1 Montana avg
-32% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Polaris School compares with Montana and U.S. medians
What stands out at Polaris School
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Polaris 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.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Polaris 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.
Polaris School is a small combined-grade school in Polaris, Montana, enrolling 8 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 8:1 puts it in the smaller third of Montana schools by student-teacher ratio.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 93% of Montana schools, with 8 enrolled.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 826 scored Montana schools.
Its student body is predominantly White (100% of enrollment) (diversity index 0/100).
Its district draws 19.7% of revenue from federal sources, an above-typical federal share that tends to track a higher-need student population.
Polaris Elem operates only this one school, so Polaris School has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 8 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of Montana's single-school districts.
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 Polaris School compares
Polaris 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 | 8:1 | ▼ 32% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Enrollment | 8 | top 93% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
8:1
Leaner classes than 95% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
8
Bigger than 1% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Staffing depth
8:1
students per teacher
- 32% below state mean
Top 23% in Montana - lower ratio than 77% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Funding equity
$23,600
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
Counselors0.0 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 100.0%
Largest group: White at 100.0% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 0.0/100
Simpson diversity index - at 0.0, Polaris School is less mixed than the Montana school average of 23.6.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Polaris Elem, which includes Polaris School.
$23,600
Per student
+19%
vs Montana
Avg $19,859
+34%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 40.4%
State 39.9%
Federal 19.7%
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.
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 (~8 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~8:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Polaris School's federal record.
- Compare Polaris School against another school. Compare schools
- Polaris Elem'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 Polaris School
How many students attend Polaris School?
Polaris School has 8 students enrolled. It is a public school in Polaris, MT.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Polaris School?
The student-teacher ratio at Polaris School is 8:1, which is 32% lower than the Montana average of 11.8:1 and 49% 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 Polaris School?
The largest demographic group at Polaris School is White at 100.0% of enrollment, in Polaris, MT.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Polaris School?
Polaris School has a Resource Investment Index of 49/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 2 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology). Limited indicators were available, so the index reflects partial data.
What other schools are in Polaris Elem?
None reported; Polaris Elem operates only Polaris School as a public school district in NCES's records.
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.