Summary:
Houston, Alaska, is served by a single middle school, Houston Middle School, which enrolls roughly 318 students in grades 6–8 within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. Because this is the only school in the city, there are no local schools to compare against one another; instead, the most meaningful context comes from how the school measures up to its district and to Alaska as a whole.
Overall, Houston Middle School trails both district and state averages in English Language Arts and mathematics, but it stands out in science. In the 2025–2026 school year, science proficiency reached 39.8%, above the state average of 37.81% though below the district’s 51.03%. The school’s ELA proficiency was 27.38% (state 32.89%) and math was 23.81% (state 32.20%). A striking internal pattern emerges by grade: 6th graders posted strong ELA results at 44.68%, beating the district’s 6th-grade rate of 43.78%, only to see proficiency collapse to 17.14% in 7th grade and 18.18% in 8th grade. Math proficiency also declines steadily, from 30.34% in 6th grade to 17.17% in 8th grade, while district and state math scores generally rise across these same grades.
With 74.21% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and a student–teacher ratio of 13.8 to 1, Houston Middle School serves a highly economically disadvantaged population while still offering relatively small classes and per-student spending above $17,000. The school has improved its statewide ranking for three straight years, moving from the 10th percentile to the 20th percentile, but it remains a 1-star school in Alaska’s accountability system. The most urgent opportunity is understanding why 6th grade is so much stronger than 7th and 8th grades, especially in reading and math. If the school can replicate its 6th-grade success across the upper grades, it has a clear path to keep climbing out of the state’s bottom ranks.
Thank you for your feedback!