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Best kept secret at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
830
Middle
DISTRICT 689 · STATE 399
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020018000729
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School
7440 Creekside Center Dr, Anchorage, AK 99504 · (907) 742-0500 · Anchorage Municipality
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL830 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 8% of Alaska public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
21.6:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 23.8:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
77%
635 students
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 265 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 290 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 275 | 33% |
Student demographics
84%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 78% · 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
18.2%
AK avg 36.1% . +0.7pp since 2023
Math
18.5%
AK avg 34.6% . +2.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 18 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 19 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 up about 2 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 18.2% | 18.5% |
| 2023-24 | 17.5% | 16.5% |
% 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
18.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
26.9%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 27% 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 Nicholas J. Begich Middle School
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School's state test result (18.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas J. Begich Middle School this school | 830 | 76.5% | 18.9% |
| Wendler Middle School Anchorage | 602 | 72.6% | 20.1% |
| Central Middle School of Science Anchorage | 545 | 79.3% | 20.8% |
| Kodiak Middle School Kodiak | 401 | 55.6% | 37.4% |
| Hanshew Middle School Anchorage | 822 | 39.2% | 26.8% |
| Ryan Middle School Fairbanks | 463 | 48.6% | 23.5% |
Matched among Alaska middle 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 Nicholas J. Begich Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Anchorage Municipality |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.9% | #24 of 26 | #7 of 8 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 18.5% | #27 of 29 no change | #8 of 9 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 18.2% | #27 of 29 no change | #8 of 9 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 830 | #2 of 35 | #2 of 9 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.6:1 | #20 of 25 | #3 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 83.9% | #4 of 25 | #4 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 76.5% | #3 of 29 | #3 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.6% | #2 of 11 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle 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
830
-57 (-6%) vs 2020
-17% since 2010-11, when it was 996
Student : Teacher
21.6:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 830 | 38.3 | 21.6:1 | 77% (635) |
| 2023-24 | 874 | 46.8 | 18.7:1 | 78% (684) |
| 2022-23 | 882 | 49 | 18.0:1 | 78% (684) |
| 2020-21 | 887 | 55 | 16.1:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 1,007 | 52.6 | 19.1:1 | 82% (827) |
| 2015-16 | 1,045 | 60 | 17.4:1 | 73% (761) |
| 2010-11 | 996 | 60 | 16.6:1 | 63% (627) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nicholas J. Begich Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (1,007 to 830); teachers down 27% (52.6 to 38.3).
About Nicholas J. Begich Middle School
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is a public middle school in Anchorage, Alaska. The school enrolls 830 students in grades 6 through 8. That compares with an average of about 399 students for middle schools in Alaska.
Anchorage School District, which runs Nicholas J. Begich Middle School, has 92 schools and 40,587 students.
The largest group at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is Asian students, at 22%. Other students are 20% multiracial, 14% White, 13% Hispanic, and 13% Pacific Islander. That is higher than the 10% Asian share among all Anchorage Municipality residents. The diversity index for Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is 84%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School reported 38.3 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, a ratio of 21.6:1. Middle schools in Alaska have an average ratio of 17.5:1. Roughly 77% of students at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School can receive free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Anchorage Municipality average 49%.
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 8% of Alaska public middle schools.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Nicholas J. Begich Middle School falls in the middle 80% of Alaska schools: 18.9% actual against 26.9% predicted.
The county, Anchorage Municipality, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $103,284 a year, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 5% of people live in poverty. Anchorage Municipality has 99 public schools with about 41,241 students, including Nicholas J. Begich Middle School.
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is about 0.3 miles from Chester Valley Elementary, its nearest public school. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Its average proficiency rate of 18.9% is below the 20.8% average for nearby schools.
The federal government classifies Nicholas J. Begich Middle School's location as City: Large.
From 887 students in 2020-21, enrollment decreased to 830 by 2024-25. By 2024-25, the school had 21.6 students per teacher, compared with 16.1 in 2020-21.
On allk12, people connected to Nicholas J. Begich Middle School can post about special education services, counseling, and support programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Anchorage Municipality at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
288,976
Census ACS
Median income
$103,284
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
99
41,241 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Anchorage School District
- West High SchoolHigh · 1,702 students
- Bettye Davis East Anchorage High SchoolHigh · 1,636 students
- Service High SchoolHigh · 1,518 students
- Bartlett High SchoolCombined · 1,431 students
- Dimond High SchoolHigh · 1,373 students
- South Anchorage High SchoolHigh · 1,239 students
Other schools in Anchorage
- West High SchoolHigh · 1,702 students
- Bettye Davis East Anchorage High SchoolHigh · 1,636 students
- Service High SchoolHigh · 1,518 students
- Bartlett High SchoolCombined · 1,431 students
- Dimond High SchoolHigh · 1,373 students
- South Anchorage High SchoolHigh · 1,239 students
Nearby schools
- Chester Valley Elementary0.3 mi · 191
- Creekside Park Elementary0.6 mi · 399
- Susitna Elementary0.7 mi · 394
- Ptarmigan Elementary0.8 mi · 392
- Muldoon Elementary1.0 mi · 417
- Anchorage STrEaM Academy1.1 mi · 183
Frequently asked questions
About Nicholas J. Begich Middle SchoolHow large is Nicholas J. Begich Middle School?
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School enrolls approximately 830 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Nicholas J. Begich Middle School serve?
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is approximately 21.6:1 (38 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School?
Student demographics at Nicholas J. Begich Middle School are roughly 14% White, 13% Hispanic, 5% Black, 22% Asian, 20% Two or more.
What district is Nicholas J. Begich Middle School in?
Nicholas J. Begich Middle School is part of Anchorage School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.