Enrollment
392
Elementary
DISTRICT 316 · STATE 277
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ANCHORAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020018000102
Ptarmigan Elementary
888 Edwards St, Anchorage, AK 99504 · (907) 742-0400 · Anchorage Municipality
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL392 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 11% of Alaska public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
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
15.1:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.4:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
326 students
DISTRICT 53% · STATE 65%
Community
0
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 | 34 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 71 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 54 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 65 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 52 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 54 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (71) is 15% larger than its 5th grade class (62).
Student demographics
85%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
13.6%
AK avg 36.1% . -4.4pp since 2023
Math
17.7%
AK avg 34.6% . -2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 14 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 18 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 13.6% | 17.7% |
| 2023-24 | 18.0% | 19.9% |
% 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
19.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.6%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% 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 Ptarmigan Elementary
Ptarmigan Elementary's state test result (19.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ptarmigan Elementary this school | 392 | 83.2% | 19.1% |
| Spring Hill Elementary Anchorage | 291 | 86.6% | 19.5% |
| Taku Elementary Anchorage | 258 | 76.0% | 29.2% |
| Creekside Park Elementary Anchorage | 399 | 84.0% | 21.3% |
| Gladys Wood Elementary Anchorage | 267 | 76.0% | 35.4% |
| Northwood ABC Anchorage | 255 | 79.6% | 26.4% |
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 Ptarmigan Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Anchorage Municipality |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 19.1% | #118 of 134 | #46 of 55 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 17.7% | #131 of 150 ▼ 9 | #49 of 62 ▼ 5 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 13.6% | #137 of 150 ▼ 7 | #52 of 62 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 392 | #24 of 169 | #10 of 62 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.1:1 | #45 of 125 | #16 of 56 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 84.7% | #3 of 125 | #3 of 56 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 83.2% | #19 of 142 | #15 of 57 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.7% | #90 of 115 | #44 of 53 |
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
392
+41 (+12%) vs 2020
+20% since 1990-91, when it was 326
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
was 13.5:1
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 | 392 | 26 | 15.1:1 | 83% (326) |
| 2023-24 | 393 | 25.9 | 15.2:1 | 82% (322) |
| 2022-23 | 341 | 19.8 | 17.2:1 | 79% (270) |
| 2020-21 | 351 | 26 | 13.5:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 434 | 28.9 | 15.0:1 | 85% (367) |
| 2015-16 | 358 | 28 | 12.8:1 | 82% (294) |
| 2010-11 | 434 | 32 | 13.6:1 | 80% (347) |
| 2000-01 | 459 | 24 | 19.1:1 | 49% (227) |
| 1990-91 | 326 | 17 | 19.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ptarmigan Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (434 to 392); teachers down 10% (28.9 to 26).
About Ptarmigan Elementary
Ptarmigan Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school located in Anchorage, Alaska. The school enrolls 392 students in pre-K through 6. Across elementary schools in Alaska, the average enrollment is about 277.
Anchorage School District has 40,587 students in 92 schools, and Ptarmigan Elementary is one of those schools.
The student body at Ptarmigan Elementary has no majority group. multiracial students lead at 20%. Other groups include 17% Pacific Islander, 16% Asian, 15% Hispanic, and 14% White. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 85%.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 15.1:1. The school has 26 full-time-equivalent teachers. It is about the same as the 15.3:1 average for elementary schools in Alaska. Federal data show 83% of students (326) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is above the 49% average among public schools in Anchorage Municipality.
Ptarmigan Elementary holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 11% of Alaska public elementary schools.
Ptarmigan Elementary posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 19.1%, compared with a predicted 24.6%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of Alaska schools on BeatsExpectations.
In the surrounding county, Anchorage Municipality, 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 Ptarmigan Elementary.
Wonder Park Elementary, about 0.8 miles away, is the closest public school. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Ptarmigan Elementary ranks 4th of 7 on average proficiency.
Ptarmigan Elementary is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more, a location NCES labels City: Large.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 392, compared with 351 in 2020-21. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (15.1:1) than in 2020-21 (13.5:1).
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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
- Wonder Park Elementary0.8 mi · 287
- Creekside Park Elementary0.8 mi · 399
- Nunaka Valley Elementary0.8 mi · 193
- Nicholas J. Begich Middle School0.8 mi · 830
- Chester Valley Elementary0.9 mi · 191
- Williwaw Elementary1.1 mi · 315
Frequently asked questions
About Ptarmigan ElementaryHow many students attend Ptarmigan Elementary?
Ptarmigan Elementary enrolls approximately 392 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does Ptarmigan Elementary serve?
Ptarmigan Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
How many teachers does Ptarmigan Elementary have?
Ptarmigan Elementary employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Ptarmigan Elementary?
At Ptarmigan Elementary, the student body is approximately 14% White, 15% Hispanic, 7% Black, 16% Asian, 20% Two or more.
What district is Ptarmigan Elementary in?
Ptarmigan Elementary is part of Anchorage School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.