Enrollment
21
North Dakota · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Sterling, ND
Sterling Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Sterling Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 71/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 381776000613
👥 S:T ratio 72
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 96
📋 Attendance 88
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Sterling Elementary School earns 71/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 87% of North Dakota schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most North Dakota schools.
- 71
- Resource Index · Higher
- 7:1
- small classes for North Dakota
- 21.1%
- free-lunch eligible
- 21
- students enrolled
Sterling Elementary School has class sizes smaller than 87% of North Dakota schools. Computed live against every North Dakota school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Sterling 35 · North Dakota
NCES ID 381776000613 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
3.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
7:1
vs 11.8:1 North Dakota avg
-41% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
21.1%
vs 28.2% North Dakota avg
-25% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Sterling Elementary School compares with North Dakota and U.S. medians
What stands out at Sterling Elementary School
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Sterling Elementary School sits near the smaller end of the North Dakota 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.
Resource indicators are the standout signal
Sterling Elementary School's economic-need measure is not at a state extreme, while its Resource Investment Index is. The campus outranks most North Dakota schools on the combined reported-resource measure, so the differentiator comes from staffing, counselor access, gifted programming, or attendance rather than from an unusually low-need population alone. The component breakdown identifies which inputs actually produce that placement.
Attendance is a relative strength
4.8% of Sterling 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.
Sterling Elementary School is a small combined-grade school in Sterling, North Dakota, enrolling 21 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 7:1, Sterling Elementary School is leaner than roughly 87% of North Dakota schools and 41% under the state's 11.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 21.1% lands close to the North Dakota typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 94% of North Dakota schools, with 21 enrolled.
Its Resource Investment Index outscores 98% of the 498 North Dakota schools with a score on record, a top-tier result on this measure.
Its student body is predominantly White (100% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 0/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 21 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Attendance holds up well here: only 4.8% of students were chronically absent, below the typical post-pandemic national figure.
The surrounding Sterling 35 spends $37,091 per pupil, 101% above the North Dakota average, a better-resourced district than most.
Sterling 35 operates only this one school, so Sterling Elementary School has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 21 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of North Dakota'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 Sterling Elementary School compares
Sterling 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 | 7:1 | ▼ 41% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 21.1% | ▼ 25% | 28.2% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 21 | top 94% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
7:1
Leaner classes than 97% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
21
Bigger than 3% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
21.1%
free-lunch eligible
- 25% below the North Dakota average of 28.2%
Below the 40% Title I threshold; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
7:1
students per teacher
- 41% below state mean
Top 13% in North Dakota - lower ratio than 87% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
4.8%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
Below 5%, comfortably under the pre-pandemic national baseline for chronic absenteeism.
Funding equity
$37,091
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
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 21 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
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, Sterling Elementary School is less mixed than the North Dakota school average of 29.7.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Sterling 35, which includes Sterling Elementary School.
$37,091
Per student
+101%
vs North Dakota
Avg $18,450
+124%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 63.3%
State 22.4%
Federal 14.3%
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 North Dakota, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~21 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~7:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Sterling Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Sterling Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Sterling 35'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 Elementary School
How many students attend Sterling Elementary School?
Sterling Elementary School has 21 students enrolled. It is a public school in Sterling, ND.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Sterling Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Sterling Elementary School is 7:1, which is 41% lower than the North Dakota average of 11.8:1 and 55% 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 Sterling Elementary School?
21.1% of students at Sterling Elementary School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the North Dakota average of 28.2%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Sterling Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Sterling Elementary School is White at 100.0% of enrollment, in Sterling, ND.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Sterling Elementary School?
Sterling Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 71/100 (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 Sterling 35?
None reported; Sterling 35 operates only Sterling Elementary 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 July 2026.