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What's the best and worst thing about the food at Cottonwood Creek Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
422
Elementary
DISTRICT 344 · STATE 277
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020051000514
Cottonwood Creek Elementary
800 N Seward Meridian, Wasilla, AK 99645 · (907) 864-2100 · Matanuska-Susitna Borough
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL422 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 63% of Alaska public elementary schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Alaska public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.8:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
38%
160 students
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 36 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 65 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 54 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 74 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 60 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 72 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (61) is 15% smaller than its 5th grade class (72).
Student demographics
50%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 51% · STATE 71% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
AK STAR + Alaska Science 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
40.4%
AK avg 36.1% . -0.1pp since 2023
Math
44.8%
AK avg 34.6% . -2.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 40 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Alaska schools, those numbers are about 36 and 35. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 40.4% | 44.8% |
| 2023-24 | 40.5% | 47.3% |
% Advanced + Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: AK STAR + Alaska Science. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
48.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.3%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 40% typical for Alaska schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Alaska's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Cottonwood Creek Elementary
Cottonwood Creek Elementary's state test result (48.4% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonwood Creek Elementary this school | 422 | 37.9% | 48.4% |
| Pioneer Peak Elementary Palmer | 449 | 39.4% | 57.4% |
| Finger Lake Elementary Wasilla | 445 | 41.3% | 45.8% |
| Weller Elementary Fairbanks | 413 | 31.7% | 43.3% |
| Kalifornsky Beach Elementary Soldotna | 384 | 45.1% | 44.4% |
| Ticasuk Brown Elementary Fairbanks | 351 | 40.2% | 29.9% |
Matched among Alaska elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Cottonwood Creek Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Matanuska-Susitna Borough |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.4% | #44 of 134 | #8 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.8% | #58 of 150 ▼ 7 | #13 of 23 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 40.4% | #71 of 150 ▼ 8 | #16 of 23 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 422 | #16 of 169 | #8 of 27 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.2:1 | #67 of 125 | #12 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 49.6% | #103 of 125 | #16 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.9% | #86 of 142 | #19 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.7% | #94 of 115 | #9 of 14 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
422
+72 (+21%) vs 2020
-16% since 1990-91, when it was 504
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
was 13.0:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 422 | 26 | 16.2:1 | 38% (160) |
| 2023-24 | 428 | 27 | 15.9:1 | 40% (171) |
| 2022-23 | 468 | 27 | 17.3:1 | 44% (207) |
| 2020-21 | 350 | 27 | 13.0:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 462 | 28.9 | 16.0:1 | 39% (179) |
| 2015-16 | 511 | 29 | 17.6:1 | 29% (149) |
| 2010-11 | 411 | 25 | 16.4:1 | 28% (115) |
| 2000-01 | 424 | 25 | 17.0:1 | 20% (85) |
| 1990-91 | 504 | 27 | 18.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cottonwood Creek Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (462 to 422); teachers down 10% (28.9 to 26).
About Cottonwood Creek Elementary
At 800 N Seward Meridian in Wasilla, Alaska, Cottonwood Creek Elementary operates as a large elementary school. It has an enrollment of 422 students in pre-K through 5. Across elementary schools in Alaska, the average enrollment is about 277.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District enrolls 19,495 students, and its 49 schools include Cottonwood Creek Elementary.
More than half of enrollment at Cottonwood Creek Elementary is White: 68%. The next largest groups are 19% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, and 4% Native American. The school's White share is 9 points below the 77% share among Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 50%.
There are 26 full-time-equivalent teachers at Cottonwood Creek Elementary, giving a ratio of 16.2:1. Elementary schools in Alaska have an average ratio of 15.3:1. By family income, 38% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Cottonwood Creek Elementary holds a B allk12 Grade, placing it above 63% of Alaska public elementary schools.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Cottonwood Creek Elementary is +8.1 points: 48.4% actual, 40.3% predicted.
The county, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $94,031 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 24%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Matanuska-Susitna Borough has 49 public schools with about 19,495 students, including Cottonwood Creek Elementary.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Knik Charter Correspondence School, is about 0.7 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Among the 5 closest schools with test data, this one included, Cottonwood Creek Elementary ranks 2nd on average proficiency.
NCES assigns Cottonwood Creek Elementary the locale Suburb: Small, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
Federal enrollment counts increased from 350 (2020-21) to 422 (2024-25). Students per teacher increased from 13.0 in 2020-21 to 16.2 in 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Cottonwood Creek Elementary. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
112,988
Census ACS
Median income
$94,031
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
49
19,495 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District
- Mat-Su Central SchoolCombined · 2,780 students
- Colony High SchoolHigh · 1,046 students
- Wasilla High SchoolHigh · 816 students
- Colony Middle SchoolElementary · 771 students
- Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High SchoolHigh · 705 students
- Teeland Middle SchoolElementary · 643 students
Other schools in Wasilla
- Mat-Su Central SchoolCombined · 2,780 students
- Wasilla High SchoolHigh · 816 students
- Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High SchoolHigh · 705 students
- Teeland Middle SchoolElementary · 643 students
- Twindly Bridge Charter SchoolCombined · 601 students
- Wasilla Middle SchoolMiddle · 584 students
Other Cottonwood Creek Elementary schools
4 other US public schools in 4 states are named Cottonwood Creek Elementary. Cottonwood Creek Elementary is the 4th largest of the 5.
- Cottonwood Creek Elementary SchoolHUTTO, TX · 925 students
- Cottonwood Creek ElementaryVisalia, CA · 627 students
- Cottonwood Creek Elementary SchoolENGLEWOOD, CO · 533 students
- Cottonwood Creek Elementary SchoolCOPPELL, TX · 408 students
Nearby schools
- Knik Charter Correspondence School0.7 mi · 34
- Knik Charter School0.7 mi · 189
- Fronteras Charter School1.2 mi · 336
- Mat-Su Day School1.3 mi · 70
- Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High School1.4 mi · 705
- Teeland Middle School1.6 mi · 643
Frequently asked questions
About Cottonwood Creek ElementaryHow many students attend Cottonwood Creek Elementary?
Cottonwood Creek Elementary enrolls approximately 422 students in grades PK-05.
Is Cottonwood Creek Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Cottonwood Creek Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Cottonwood Creek Elementary have?
Cottonwood Creek Elementary employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.2:1.
How diverse is Cottonwood Creek Elementary?
Cottonwood Creek Elementary reports a student body of 68% White, 8% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 19% Two or more.
What district is Cottonwood Creek Elementary in?
Cottonwood Creek Elementary is part of Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.