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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at West Valley High School this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
782
High
DISTRICT 416 · STATE 373
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 020060000281
West Valley High School
3800 Geist Rd, Fairbanks, AK 99709 · (907) 479-4221 · Fairbanks North Star Borough
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL782 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 65% of Alaska public high 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
21%
165 students
DISTRICT 35% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 216 | 28% |
| Grade 10 | 220 | 28% |
| Grade 11 | 192 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 154 | 20% |
Student demographics
61%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
41.6%
AK avg 36.1% . -0.3pp since 2023
Math
26.1%
AK avg 34.6% . +0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the AK STAR + Alaska Science, Alaska's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 26 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 have held steady.
AK STAR + Alaska Science results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 41.6% | 26.1% |
| 2023-24 | 41.9% | 25.5% |
% 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
37.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
46.1%
based on AK schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 37% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 West Valley High School
West Valley High School's state test result (37.2% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Valley High School this school | 782 | 21.1% | 37.2% |
| Chugiak High School Chugiak | 928 | 18.3% | 36.5% |
| North Pole High School North Pole | 695 | 22.4% | 26.6% |
| South Anchorage High School Anchorage | 1,239 | 16.1% | 43.8% |
| Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kale Juneau | 1,018 | 13.6% | 33.4% |
| Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High School Wasilla | 705 | 25.0% | 40.9% |
Matched among Alaska high 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 West Valley High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Alaska | In Fairbanks North Star Borough |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 37.2% | #11 of 39 | N/A |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.1% | #13 of 43 ▲ 1 | #2 of 6 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.6% | #12 of 44 ▲ 1 | #3 of 6 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 782 | #11 of 72 | #2 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.1:1 | #25 of 38 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.9% | #15 of 38 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 21.1% | #37 of 45 | #5 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.9% | #4 of 28 | N/A |
Ranked against other public high 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
782
-114 (-13%) vs 2020
-4% since 1990-91, when it was 812
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
was 21.3:1
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 | 782 | 41 | 19.1:1 | 21% (165) |
| 2023-24 | 818 | 44 | 18.6:1 | 28% (229) |
| 2022-23 | 906 | 44.7 | 20.3:1 | 24% (219) |
| 2020-21 | 896 | 42 | 21.3:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 976 | 48.7 | 20.1:1 | 20% (199) |
| 2015-16 | 1,025 | 51 | 20.1:1 | 23% (239) |
| 2010-11 | 1,073 | 56 | 19.2:1 | 18% (193) |
| 2000-01 | 1,229 | 65 | 18.9:1 | 10% (124) |
| 1990-91 | 812 | 41 | 19.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for West Valley High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (976 to 782); teachers down 16% (48.7 to 41).
About West Valley High School
West Valley High School is classified as a high school. It is located in Fairbanks, Alaska. The school's 782 students are in grades 9 through 12. Enrollment is 110% higher than the average for high schools in Alaska, which is about 373.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District counts 34 schools and 12,214 students, including West Valley High School.
White students are the majority at West Valley High School, with 58% of enrollment. Enrollment also includes 18% multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 9% Native American, and 3% Asian. The school's White share is 11 points below the 69% share among Fairbanks North Star Borough residents. The school's diversity index is 61%, meaning two students picked at random have a 61% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Federal staffing data show 41 full-time-equivalent teachers at West Valley High School and a ratio of 19.1:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 17.0:1 average for high schools in Alaska. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 21% of enrollment. On average, public schools in Fairbanks North Star Borough report 33%.
allk12 grades West Valley High School a B+. The grade compares the school only with Alaska public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
West Valley High School is 9.0 points below its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (37.2% versus 46.1%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Alaska.
Within Fairbanks North Star Borough, the median household income is $88,267, about 33% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 3%. In all, Fairbanks North Star Borough has 39 public schools and roughly 23,777 students.
The closest public school to West Valley High School is Hutchison High School, about 0.3 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, West Valley High School is behind the 40.7% nearby average, ranking 3rd of 6.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Small.
Enrollment at West Valley High School dropped 13% between 2020-21 and 2024-25, from 896 to 782 students. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 21.3:1; by 2024-25 it was 19.1:1.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at West Valley High School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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
- North Pole High SchoolHigh · 695 students
- North Pole Middle SchoolMiddle · 631 students
- Tanana Middle SchoolMiddle · 523 students
- Ryan Middle SchoolMiddle · 463 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
- Tanana Middle SchoolMiddle · 523 students
- Ryan Middle SchoolMiddle · 463 students
Other West Valley High schools
3 other US public schools in 3 states are named West Valley High. West Valley High School is the 4th largest of the 4.
- West Valley HighHemet, CA · 1,857 students
- West Valley High SchoolYakima, WA · 1,494 students
- West Valley High SchoolSPOKANE, WA · 836 students
Nearby schools
- Hutchison High School0.3 mi · 356
- North Star College0.3 mi · 197
- Effie Kokrine Charter School0.5 mi · 139
- University Park Elementary0.7 mi · 361
- Raven School1.1 mi · 3,687
- Woodriver Elementary1.6 mi · 342
Frequently asked questions
About West Valley High SchoolHow large is West Valley High School?
West Valley High School enrolls approximately 782 students in grades 09-12.
Is West Valley High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
West Valley High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at West Valley High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at West Valley High School is approximately 19.1:1 (41 FTE teachers).
How diverse is West Valley High School?
West Valley High School reports a student body of 58% White, 10% Hispanic, 2% Black, 3% Asian, 18% Two or more.
Is West Valley High School public or private?
West Valley High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.