Best Public Schools in Seward, AK

Schools in Seward, Alaska — a small coastal city on the Kenai Peninsula — serve about 482 students across three traditional public schools: William H. Seward Elementary School (PK–5), Seward Middle School (6–8), and Seward High School (9–12), all part of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.

William H. Seward Elementary School is clearly the city’s standout. It posts the highest proficiency rates in every subject among the three Seward schools, and it outperforms district and state averages in science (56.76% proficient), ELA (41.24%), and math (37.11%). Its 4th-grade ELA and 5th-grade science results are especially strong, and its state ranking has climbed from the 31st percentile in 2022–2023 to the 48th percentile in 2025–2026. It also has the lowest student–teacher ratio in the city at 12.2. By contrast, Seward Middle School is the most concerning school in Seward. Its 2025–2026 proficiency rates are far below district and state averages — just 23.91% in ELA, 16.30% in math, and 36.67% in science. Grade-level math proficiency ranges from 14.29% to 18.75%, meaning roughly five out of six middle schoolers are not proficient. The school’s state ranking has fallen sharply, from the 40th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 9th percentile in 2025–2026, landing it near the bottom of Alaska middle schools with 0 stars.

Seward High School presents a mixed profile. It is above district and state averages in 9th-grade math (21.43%) and 10th-grade science (42.42%), but its 9th-grade ELA proficiency (21.43%) lags well behind the district’s 33.33%. Its graduation rate of 82.6% is also below the district’s 85.0%. Overall, the high school ranks in the 40th percentile statewide with 2 stars — an improvement over the prior year but still below its 52nd-percentile performance in 2023–2024. Notably, the elementary and middle schools serve nearly identical poverty levels (about 36.5% free/reduced lunch), yet their outcomes differ by roughly 17 points in ELA and 21 points in math — pointing to instructional or programmatic challenges at the middle school, not poverty alone. The most urgent priority for Seward’s educational pipeline is addressing the middle school’s declining math and reading proficiency before students reach high school.