Enrollment
85
North Dakota · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Turtle Lake, ND
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School
Federal NCES profile for Turtle Lake-Mercer High School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 60/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 381850000641
👥 S:T ratio 72
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 66
📋 Attendance 71
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School earns 60/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 86% of North Dakota schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most North Dakota schools.
- 60
- Resource Index · Higher
- 7.1:1
- small classes for North Dakota
- 20.0%
- free-lunch eligible
- 85
- students enrolled
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School has class sizes smaller than 86% of North Dakota schools. Computed live against every North Dakota school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Turtle Lake-Mercer 72 · North Dakota
NCES ID 381850000641 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
12.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
7.1:1
vs 11.8:1 North Dakota avg
-40% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
20.0%
vs 28.2% North Dakota avg
-29% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Turtle Lake-Mercer High School compares with North Dakota and U.S. medians
What stands out at Turtle Lake-Mercer High School
Teacher staffing is the clearest operational strength
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School's enrollment is not at an extreme, but its student-teacher ratio is: it reports fewer students per teacher than most North Dakota 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.
Resource indicators are the standout signal
Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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 High School is a lower-poverty, mid-sized combined-grade school in Turtle Lake, North Dakota, enrolling 85 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 7.1:1, Turtle Lake-Mercer High School is leaner than roughly 86% of North Dakota schools and 40% under the state's 11.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 20.0% lands close to the North Dakota typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
Enrollment of 85 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 82 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #25.
Its student body is predominantly White (98% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 5/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 170 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
11.8% 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 Elementary School (97 students): Turtle Lake-Mercer High School is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (7.1:1 vs 9.7:1).
Its district, Turtle Lake-Mercer 72, also runs Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School (97 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 High School compares
Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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 | 7.1:1 | ▼ 40% | 11.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 20.0% | ▼ 29% | 28.2% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 85 | top 70% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
7.1:1
Leaner classes than 96% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
85
Bigger than 9% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
20.0%
free-lunch eligible
- 29% 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
7.1:1
students per teacher
- 40% below state mean
Top 14% in North Dakota - lower ratio than 86% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
11.8%
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 + 7 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 8.2 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Student demographics
White 97.6%
American Indian / Alaska Native 1.2%
Two or More 1.2%
Largest group: White at 97.6% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 4.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 4.7, Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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 High 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 High School Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School | Similar size | Similar economic need | Higher S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Turtle Lake-Mercer High School's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 97
- Students per teacher
- 9.7:1
- Resource Index
- 56/100
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 (~85 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~7.1:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Turtle Lake-Mercer High School's federal record.
- Compare Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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 High School
How many students attend Turtle Lake-Mercer High School?
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School has 85 students enrolled. It is a public school in Turtle Lake, ND.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Turtle Lake-Mercer High School?
The student-teacher ratio at Turtle Lake-Mercer High School is 7.1:1, which is 40% 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 Turtle Lake-Mercer High School?
20.0% of students at Turtle Lake-Mercer High 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 High School?
The largest demographic group at Turtle Lake-Mercer High School is White at 97.6% of enrollment, in Turtle Lake, ND.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Turtle Lake-Mercer High School?
Turtle Lake-Mercer High School has a Resource Investment Index of 60/100 (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 High School, Turtle Lake-Mercer 72 also operates Turtle Lake-Mercer Elementary School (97 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.