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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Pearl Creek Elementary this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
388
Elementary
DISTRICT 294 · STATE 277
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020060000516
Pearl Creek Elementary
700 Auburn Dr, Fairbanks, AK 99709 · (907) 479-4234 · Fairbanks North Star Borough
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL388 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 61% of Alaska public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats 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
16.9:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.1:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
26%
102 students
DISTRICT 35% · STATE 65%
Community
1
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 | 8 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 55 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 62 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 63 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 60 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (55) is 19% smaller than its 5th grade class (68).
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
50.3%
AK avg 36.1% . +10.4pp since 2023
Math
48.7%
AK avg 34.6% . +4.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 49 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Alaska schools, those numbers are about 36 and 35. Reading and writing scores are up about 10 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.3% | 48.7% |
| 2023-24 | 39.9% | 44.3% |
% 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
49.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.3%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 50% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 Pearl Creek Elementary
Pearl Creek Elementary's state test result (49.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearl Creek Elementary this school | 388 | 26.3% | 49.7% |
| Fred and Sara Machetanz Elementary School Wasilla | 468 | 29.1% | 59.7% |
| Hermon Hutchens Elementary Valdez | 287 | 26.8% | 54.4% |
| Weller Elementary Fairbanks | 413 | 31.7% | 43.3% |
| Rabbit Creek Elementary Anchorage | 288 | 20.8% | 58.6% |
| Barnette Magnet School Fairbanks | 417 | 29.5% | 51.6% |
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 Pearl Creek Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Fairbanks North Star Borough |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 49.7% | #41 of 134 | #5 of 17 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 48.7% | #47 of 150 ▲ 12 | #5 of 18 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.3% | #29 of 150 ▲ 37 | #5 of 18 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 388 | #25 of 169 | #3 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.9:1 | #80 of 125 | #3 of 16 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 51.7% | #97 of 125 | #16 of 16 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 26.3% | #118 of 142 | #14 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.1% | #58 of 115 | #8 of 13 |
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
388
+59 (+18%) vs 2020
-36% since 1990-91, when it was 607
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 388 | 23 | 16.9:1 | 26% (102) |
| 2023-24 | 394 | 23 | 17.1:1 | 27% (108) |
| 2022-23 | 411 | 22.8 | 18.0:1 | 24% (97) |
| 2020-21 | 329 | 25 | 13.2:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 492 | 28.6 | 17.2:1 | 24% (116) |
| 2015-16 | 496 | 27 | 18.4:1 | 25% (123) |
| 2010-11 | 483 | 26 | 18.6:1 | 24% (117) |
| 2000-01 | 557 | 32 | 17.4:1 | 13% (70) |
| 1990-91 | 607 | 33 | 18.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pearl Creek Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (492 to 388); teachers down 20% (28.6 to 23).
About Pearl Creek Elementary
Pearl Creek Elementary sits in Fairbanks, Alaska, and is classified as an elementary school. The latest federal count shows 388 students in pre-K through 5. Against the 277-student average for elementary schools in Alaska, enrollment here is 40% higher.
A total of 34 schools make up Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, with 12,214 students enrolled.
At Pearl Creek Elementary, White students make up 66% of the student body. It is also 17% multiracial, 8% Native American, and 6% Hispanic. For comparison, Fairbanks North Star Borough is about 69% White. Pick two students at random and there is a 52% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The teaching staff at Pearl Creek Elementary is 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 16.9:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 15.3:1 average for elementary schools in Alaska. About 26% of students, or 102, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Measured against Alaska public elementary schools, Pearl Creek Elementary receives a B. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The model predicts 44.3% for a school in Alaska with Pearl Creek Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share. Pearl Creek Elementary posts 49.7%.
Fairbanks North Star Borough has about 95,460 residents, and the median household income is $88,267, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 33% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 3%. In all, Fairbanks North Star Borough has 39 public schools and roughly 23,777 students.
The school nearest to Pearl Creek Elementary is North Star College, at a distance of about 2.5 miles. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. On state test proficiency, Pearl Creek Elementary ranks 1st in a group of 7 nearby schools.
NCES assigns Pearl Creek Elementary the locale Rural: Fringe, meaning in rural territory close to an urban area.
Enrollment has grown by 59 students since 2020-21, to 388. The number of students per teacher rose from 13.2 to 16.9 over 4 years.
The discussion area below is open to posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Fairbanks North Star Borough at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
95,460
Census ACS
Median income
$88,267
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
39
23,777 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
- Lathrop High SchoolHigh · 788 students
- Fairbanks B.E.S.T.Combined · 784 students
- West Valley High SchoolHigh · 782 students
- North Pole High SchoolHigh · 695 students
- North Pole Middle SchoolMiddle · 631 students
- Tanana Middle SchoolMiddle · 523 students
Other schools in Fairbanks
- Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA)Combined · 7,876 students
- Raven SchoolCombined · 3,687 students
- Lathrop High SchoolHigh · 788 students
- Fairbanks B.E.S.T.Combined · 784 students
- West Valley High SchoolHigh · 782 students
- Tanana Middle SchoolMiddle · 523 students
Nearby schools
- North Star College2.5 mi · 197
- West Valley High School2.8 mi · 782
- Hutchison High School2.8 mi · 356
- Anne Wien Elementary3.1 mi · 360
- Effie Kokrine Charter School3.1 mi · 139
- Randy Smith Middle School3.1 mi · 413
Frequently asked questions
About Pearl Creek ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Pearl Creek Elementary?
Pearl Creek Elementary enrolls approximately 388 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Pearl Creek Elementary serve?
Pearl Creek Elementary serves grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Pearl Creek Elementary have?
Pearl Creek Elementary employs 23 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Pearl Creek Elementary?
Student demographics at Pearl Creek Elementary are roughly 66% White, 6% Hispanic, 0% Black, 2% Asian, 17% Two or more.
Who oversees Pearl Creek Elementary?
Pearl Creek Elementary is overseen by Fairbanks North Star Borough School District in Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.