NCES CCD 2024-25 27 schools AK

Best-Resourced Schools in Fairbanks, AK

Compiled from official source data by .

27 public K-12 schools in Fairbanks from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
27
Schools
20,340
Students
37.3/100
Avg Resource Index
16.3:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Large system with a dominant campus

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Fairbanks has more public-school enrollment than 93% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Fairbanks sits near the top of the national city distribution by public-school enrollment, while Interior Distance Education of Alaska (Idea) alone enrolls 38.7% of local students. The city total therefore does not describe a uniform market: one large campus materially shapes the aggregate, and the remaining schools operate at a different scale. Read the ranked table alongside each campus profile rather than treating the city mean as a typical school.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

18 of Fairbanks's 27 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Economic-need coverage is incomplete

Free-lunch eligibility is reported for schools covering 37.6% of Fairbanks's listed enrollment. Because the remaining enrollment is outside that calculation, the measured percentage should not be generalized to every local student. The Resource Investment Index uses other reported federal fields and has its own coverage limits. Treat the city figures as a map of available records: inspect a campus's source fields before using economic need or resource position in a comparison.

City enrollment
Top 7%
School count
Top 10%
Resource Index average
34th percentile
Teacher staffing
40th percentile

Interior Distance Education of Alaska (Idea) accounts for 38.7% of all Fairbanks public-school enrollment

That dominant concentration means Fairbanks-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: Combined. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Fairbanks school enrollment varies 606× across entities

Fairbanks school enrollment ranges from 13 students (lowest) to 7,876 students (highest), a spread of 7,863 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Fairbanks student-teacher ratio is 16.3:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Fairbanks is typically wider than the Fairbanks-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

4 of Fairbanks's 27 listed schools are charters

15% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

# School Score
1. Fairbanks B.E.S.T. 59
2. Golden Heart Academy 56
3. Alternative Learning Systems 50
4. Barnette Magnet School 48
5. Chinook Montessori Charter School 45
6. Two Rivers School 42
7. Ryan Middle School 41
8. Randy Smith Middle School 41
9. Lathrop High School 40
10. West Valley High School 37
11. Denali Elementary 36
12. Ticasuk Brown Elementary 35
13. Hunter Elementary 35
14. Anne Wien Elementary 34
15. Hutchison High School 34
16. Woodriver Elementary 33
17. Effie Kokrine Charter School 33
18. Ladd Elementary 32
19. Boreal Sun Charter School 32
20. Tanana Middle School 31
21. Pearl Creek Elementary 31
22. University Park Elementary 31
23. Interior Distance Education of Alaska (Idea) 30
24. Weller Elementary 29
25. Salcha Elementary 28
26. Watershed Charter School 27
27. Raven School -

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Fairbanks

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Hunter Elementary 79.1/100
  2. 2 Denali Elementary 78.8/100
  3. 3 Anne Wien Elementary 75.7/100
  4. 4 Ryan Middle School 74.9/100
  5. 5 Lathrop High School 73.4/100

What do families ask about schools in Fairbanks?

Which Fairbanks school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Fairbanks B.E.S.T. has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Fairbanks schools in this federal-data comparison at 59/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Fairbanks, AK? ▼

Fairbanks has 27 public schools with a total enrollment of 20,340 students. 4 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 16.3:1.

Other Cities in Alaska

Anchorage
79 schools
Wasilla
26 schools
Juneau
15 schools
Palmer
14 schools
Eagle River
11 schools
Ketchikan
9 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Alaska →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.