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What's the biggest difference between Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
468
Elementary
DISTRICT 344 · STATE 277
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020051000741
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School
4961 E Nelson Rd, Wasilla, AK 99654 · (907) 864-2300 · Matanuska-Susitna Borough
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL468 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 88% of Alaska public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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
18.4:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.8:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
29%
136 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 | 11 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 58 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 72 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 64 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 90 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 88 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 85 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (58) is 32% smaller than its 5th grade class (85).
Student demographics
54%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
51.0%
AK avg 36.1% . -2.1pp since 2023
Math
53.5%
AK avg 34.6% . -8.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 51 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 54 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Alaska schools, those numbers are about 36 and 35. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 9 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 51.0% | 53.5% |
| 2023-24 | 53.1% | 62.4% |
% 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
59.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.4%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+16.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 60% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% 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 Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School's state test result (59.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School this school | 468 | 29.1% | 59.7% |
| Weller Elementary Fairbanks | 413 | 31.7% | 43.3% |
| Pearl Creek Elementary Fairbanks | 388 | 26.3% | 49.7% |
| Barnette Magnet School Fairbanks | 417 | 29.5% | 51.6% |
| Cottonwood Creek Elementary Wasilla | 422 | 37.9% | 48.4% |
| Pioneer Peak Elementary Palmer | 449 | 39.4% | 57.4% |
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 Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Matanuska-Susitna Borough |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 59.7% | #12 of 134 | #2 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 53.5% | #31 of 150 ▼ 16 | #6 of 23 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 51.0% | #26 of 150 ▼ 8 | #3 of 23 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 468 | #8 of 169 | #4 of 27 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.4:1 | #108 of 125 | #20 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 53.7% | #88 of 125 | #12 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 29.1% | #109 of 142 | #21 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.4% | #12 of 15 | #5 of 7 |
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
468
+40 (+9%) vs 2020
+34% since 2010-11, when it was 350
Student : Teacher
18.4:1
was 15.3:1
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 | 468 | 25.5 | 18.4:1 | 29% (136) |
| 2023-24 | 476 | 27.5 | 17.3:1 | 23% (111) |
| 2022-23 | 471 | 26.3 | 17.9:1 | 24% (111) |
| 2020-21 | 428 | 28 | 15.3:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 444 | 25.5 | 17.4:1 | 22% (98) |
| 2015-16 | 472 | 26 | 18.1:1 | 19% (92) |
| 2010-11 | 350 | 20 | 17.5:1 | 26% (92) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (444 to 468); teachers unchanged (25.5 to 25.5).
About Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School
In Wasilla, Alaska, part of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is an elementary school. Classes run from pre-K through 5, and the school has 468 students. Against the 277-student average for elementary schools in Alaska, enrollment here is 69% higher.
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is among 49 schools run by Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, which serves 19,495 students.
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is 64% White by enrollment. The remaining students are 20% multiracial, 8% Hispanic, and 5% Native American. Among people living in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the White share is about 77%. Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School's diversity index is 54%, against a US figure of 70%.
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School employs 25.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 18.4:1. This ratio sits 3.0 above the 15.3:1 average for elementary schools in Alaska. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 29% in 2024-25. The 45% average for public schools in Matanuska-Susitna Borough is 16 points higher.
allk12 grades Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School an A. The grade compares the school only with Alaska public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School, the prediction is 43.4% and the result is 59.7%.
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is located in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, where the median household income is $94,031, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is one of 49 public schools in the county.
The closest public school, Knik Charter Correspondence School, is about 2.7 miles from Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles.
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School has an NCES locale of Suburb: Small.
Enrollment is up 9% from 2020-21, when Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School had 428 students, to 2024-25, when it had 468. The ratio of students to teachers went from 15.3:1 to 18.4:1 over the same years.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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
Nearby schools
- Knik Charter Correspondence School2.7 mi · 34
- Knik Charter School2.7 mi · 189
- Cottonwood Creek Elementary3.0 mi · 422
- Mat-Su Middle College School3.5 mi · 222
- Birchtree Charter School3.8 mi · 416
- Mat-Su Day School4.0 mi · 70
Frequently asked questions
About Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School?
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School enrolls approximately 468 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School serve?
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School?
Approximately 18.4:1 students per teacher at Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School.
How diverse is Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School?
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School reports a student body of 64% White, 8% Hispanic, 0% Black, 2% Asian, 20% Two or more.
Who oversees Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School?
Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School is overseen by Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District in Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.