Enrollment
383
Elementary
DISTRICT 344 · STATE 277
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MATANUSKA-SUSITNA BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020051000230
Sherrod Elementary
561 N Gulkana St, Palmer, AK 99645 · (907) 761-4100 · Matanuska-Susitna Borough
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL383 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.8:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
62%
239 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 | 25 | 7% |
| Grade 3 | 110 | 29% |
| Grade 4 | 118 | 31% |
| Grade 5 | 130 | 34% |
Student demographics
59%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
49.0%
AK avg 36.1% . +6.8pp since 2023
Math
43.1%
AK avg 34.6% . -3.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 43 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 7 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 49.0% | 43.1% |
| 2023-24 | 42.2% | 46.6% |
% 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
48.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.8%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+16.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% 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 Sherrod Elementary
Sherrod Elementary's state test result (48.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sherrod Elementary this school | 383 | 62.4% | 48.5% |
| Big Lake Elementary Big Lake | 362 | 61.9% | 40.9% |
| Mt. View Elementary Kenai | 449 | 57.5% | 31.8% |
| Meadow Lakes Elementary Wasilla | 308 | 65.9% | 24.6% |
| Tanaina Elementary Wasilla | 324 | 55.2% | 39.9% |
| Iditarod Elementary Wasilla | 424 | 72.2% | 34.3% |
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 Sherrod Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Matanuska-Susitna Borough |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.5% | #43 of 134 | #7 of 19 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.1% | #62 of 150 ▼ 10 | #14 of 23 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.0% | #34 of 150 ▲ 26 | #7 of 23 ▲ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 383 | #28 of 169 | #11 of 27 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.6:1 | #76 of 125 | #17 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.4% | #68 of 125 | #5 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 62.4% | #42 of 142 | #5 of 21 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.4% | #78 of 115 | #6 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
383
+16 (+4%) vs 2020
-2% since 1990-91, when it was 390
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
was 13.6:1
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 | 383 | 23 | 16.6:1 | 62% (239) |
| 2023-24 | 369 | 24 | 15.4:1 | 66% (244) |
| 2022-23 | 395 | 22 | 17.9:1 | 51% (201) |
| 2020-21 | 367 | 27 | 13.6:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 437 | 25.5 | 17.1:1 | 45% (197) |
| 2015-16 | 444 | 26 | 17.1:1 | 40% (178) |
| 2010-11 | 460 | 26 | 17.7:1 | 33% (152) |
| 2000-01 | 491 | 26 | 18.9:1 | 37% (183) |
| 1990-91 | 390 | 22 | 17.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sherrod Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (437 to 383); teachers down 10% (25.5 to 23).
About Sherrod Elementary
Sherrod Elementary is one of the public schools in Palmer, Alaska. It is a mid-sized elementary school. Its enrollment is 383 students, spread over pre-K through 5. Elementary schools in Alaska average about 277 students, which makes this school 38% above average.
The district, Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, has 19,495 students enrolled across 49 schools.
More than half of the students at Sherrod Elementary are White (59%). The next largest groups are 21% multiracial, 11% Native American, and 8% Hispanic. In Matanuska-Susitna Borough overall, about 77% of residents are White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Sherrod Elementary scores 59%.
Teacher count: 23 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 16.6:1. The gap from the 15.3:1 average for elementary schools in Alaska is 1.3 students per teacher. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 62%. That is 17 points above the 45% average for public schools in Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
A school with Sherrod Elementary's lunch-eligibility share in Alaska is predicted to score 31.8%. Sherrod Elementary scores 48.5%, 16.7 points above that line.
In the wider Matanuska-Susitna Borough area, the median household earns about $94,031 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 24% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. Across Matanuska-Susitna Borough, 49 public schools serve about 19,495 students.
Sherrod Elementary's nearest public school is Swanson Elementary (about 0.1 miles). The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On average proficiency, Sherrod Elementary is 1st of 5 nearby schools with test data.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Small: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
Federal enrollment counts rose from 367 (2020-21) to 383 (2024-25). In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 13.6:1; by 2024-25 it was 16.6:1.
This page is set up for the Sherrod Elementary community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
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 Palmer
- Colony High SchoolHigh · 1,046 students
- Colony Middle SchoolElementary · 771 students
- Palmer High SchoolHigh · 616 students
- Palmer Middle SchoolMiddle · 563 students
- Pioneer Peak ElementaryElementary · 449 students
- Birchtree Charter SchoolElementary · 416 students
Other Sherrod Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Sherrod Elementary. Sherrod Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Sherrod Elementary SchoolARLINGTON, TX · 475 students
Nearby schools
- Swanson Elementary0.1 mi · 348
- Academy Charter School0.4 mi · 268
- Palmer High School1.3 mi · 616
- Palmer Middle School1.4 mi · 563
- Mat-Su Secondary School1.9 mi · 10
- Valley Pathways2.6 mi · 143
Frequently asked questions
About Sherrod ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Sherrod Elementary?
Sherrod Elementary enrolls approximately 383 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Sherrod Elementary serve?
Sherrod Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Sherrod Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Sherrod Elementary is approximately 16.6:1 (23 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Sherrod Elementary?
Student demographics at Sherrod Elementary are roughly 59% White, 8% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 21% Two or more.
Is Sherrod Elementary public or private?
Sherrod Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.