Enrollment
301
Connecticut · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Sterling, CT
Sterling Community School
Federal NCES profile for Sterling Community School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 17/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 090435001491
🌟 Gifted program 30
📋 Attendance 4
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Sterling Community School earns 17/100 on the Resource Investment Index on federal resource data.
- 17
- Resource Index · Lower
- 35.9%
- free-lunch eligible
- 301
- students enrolled
School address
District: Sterling School District · Connecticut
NCES ID 090435001491 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Free-lunch eligible
35.9%
vs 36.4% Connecticut avg
-1% vs state
What stands out at Sterling Community School
Sterling Community School is a mid-sized combined-grade school in Sterling, Connecticut, enrolling 301 students.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 35.9% lands close to the Connecticut typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
Enrollment of 301 puts it in the smaller third of Connecticut schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index trails 99% of the 1,003 Connecticut schools with a score on record, one of the lower results on this measure.
Among 202 similarly sized, similarly resourced-need Connecticut schools statewide, it ranks #199, in the lower tier once campus size and economic need are matched.
Its student body is led by White (80%) and Two or More (10%) (diversity index 35/100).
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 38.5% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
Sterling School District operates only this one school, so Sterling Community School has no district-mates to compare against locally.
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 Sterling Community School compares
Sterling Community School on the metrics families compare, against Connecticut and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Connecticut | Connecticut avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-lunch eligible | 35.9% | ▼ 1% | 36.4% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 301 | top 76% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
301
Bigger than 32% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
35.9%
free-lunch eligible
- 1% below the Connecticut average of 36.4%
Below the 40% Title I threshold; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Engagement
38.5%
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
$21,070
per pupil, district-wide
- below Connecticut avg of $23,870
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
21
in-school suspensions + 10 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 7.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 10.3 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
White 79.7%
Two or More 10.0%
Hispanic or Latino 8.0%
African American 1.0%
Asian 0.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native 0.7%
Largest group: White at 79.7% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 34.8/100
Simpson diversity index - at 34.8, Sterling Community School is less mixed than the Connecticut school average of 50.5.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Sterling School District, which includes Sterling Community School.
$21,070
Per student
-12%
vs Connecticut
Avg $23,870
+27%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 52.7%
State 43.1%
Federal 4.2%
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.
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Connecticut, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Sterling Community School's federal record.
- Compare Sterling Community School against another school. Compare schools
- Sterling School District'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 Sterling Community School
How many students attend Sterling Community School?
Sterling Community School has 301 students enrolled. It is a public school in Sterling, CT.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Sterling Community School?
35.9% of students at Sterling Community School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Connecticut average of 36.4%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Sterling Community School?
The largest demographic group at Sterling Community School is White at 79.7% of enrollment, in Sterling, CT.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Sterling Community School?
Sterling Community School has a Resource Investment Index of 17/100 (lower reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 2 factors: student-teacher ratio, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology). Limited indicators were available, so the index reflects partial data.
Is Sterling Community School a good school?
Sterling Community School earns 17/100 on the Resource Investment Index on federal resource data. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Sterling School District?
None reported; Sterling School District operates only Sterling Community 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, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.