Enrollment
97
North Dakota · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Turtle Lake, ND
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 56/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 381850000640
👥 S:T ratio 61
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 61
📋 Attendance 72
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School earns 56/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes near the North Dakota median.
- 56
- Resource Index · Higher
- 9.7:1
- students per teacher
- 19.0%
- free-lunch eligible
- 97
- students enrolled
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School has class sizes near the North Dakota median. Computed live against every North Dakota school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Turtle Lake-Mercer 72 · North Dakota
NCES ID 381850000640 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
10.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
9.7:1
vs 11.8:1 North Dakota avg
-18% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
19.0%
vs 28.2% North Dakota avg
-33% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School compares with North Dakota and U.S. medians
What stands out at Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School
Scale and staffing sit near the state mainstream
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is neither an extreme outlier in enrollment nor in student-teacher ratio among North Dakota schools. Its profile therefore turns on the other dimensions rather than on scale alone: economic need, counselor coverage, program access, attendance, and district finance. This middle placement is useful because it prevents the campus from being mislabeled as unusually large, small, crowded, or teacher-dense when the federal comparison does not support that claim.
Need and resources require a component-level read
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School falls within the wide middle of the North Dakota distribution on both free-meal eligibility and the Resource Investment Index. Neither measure supplies an honest headline by itself. The useful distinctions are in the components: classroom staffing, counselor availability, attendance, gifted-program access, and district spending. Those fields can pull in opposite directions even when the overall percentile looks ordinary.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary 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.
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is a lower-poverty, mid-sized combined-grade school in Turtle Lake, North Dakota, enrolling 97 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 9.7:1 puts it in the smaller third of North Dakota schools by student-teacher ratio.
Economic need runs somewhat below the state's typical profile, with 19.0% of students eligible for free meals.
Enrollment of 97 puts it in the smaller third of North Dakota schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 498 scored North Dakota schools.
Against 103 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #47.
Its student body is predominantly White (93% of enrollment) (diversity index 14/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 194 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
11.3% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.
Among Turtle Lake's public schools, it stands alongside Turtle Lake-Mercer High School (85 students): Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is larger than that campus by headcount and runs heavier classes (9.7:1 vs 7.1:1).
Its district, Turtle Lake-Mercer 72, also runs Turtle Lake-Mercer High School (85 students).
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 Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School compares
Turtle Lake-Mercer 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 | 9.7:1 | ▼ 18% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 19.0% | ▼ 33% | 28.2% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 97 | top 66% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
9.7:1
Leaner classes than 90% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
97
Bigger than 10% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
19.0%
free-lunch eligible
- 33% 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
9.7:1
students per teacher
- 18% below state mean
Top 33% in North Dakota - lower ratio than 67% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
11.3%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 10-15% range, above the pre-pandemic national baseline but within the broader post-pandemic picture.
Funding equity
$18,153
per pupil, district-wide
- below North Dakota avg of $18,450
Somewhat above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting 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 + 4 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 4.1 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Student demographics
White 92.8%
Two or More 4.1%
American Indian / Alaska Native 2.1%
African American 1.0%
Largest group: White at 92.8% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 13.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 13.7, Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is less mixed than the North Dakota school average of 29.7.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Turtle Lake-Mercer 72, which includes Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School.
$18,153
Per student
-2%
vs North Dakota
Avg $18,450
+9%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 41.3%
State 44.6%
Federal 14.1%
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.
How Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turtle Lake-Mercer High School | Similar size | Similar economic need | Lower S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 85
- Students per teacher
- 7.1:1
- Resource Index
- 60/100
Similar other schools in Turtle Lake
1 comparable other schools (grades Mixed) serving the same city.
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 (~97 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~9.7:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Turtle Lake-Mercer 72'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 Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School
How many students attend Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School?
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School has 97 students enrolled. It is a public school in Turtle Lake, ND.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is 9.7:1, which is 18% lower than the North Dakota average of 11.8:1 and 38% 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 Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School?
19.0% of students at Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the North Dakota average of 28.2%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School is White at 92.8% of enrollment, in Turtle Lake, ND.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School?
Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 56/100 (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 Turtle Lake-Mercer 72?
Besides Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School, Turtle Lake-Mercer 72 also operates Turtle Lake-Mercer High School (85 students). See the Turtle Lake-Mercer 72 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, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026.