Mendenhall River Community School

Mendenhall River Community School is a pre-K through 6th grade school on Mendenhall Loop Road in Juneau, AK, serving 308 students in the Juneau Borough School District. The school has typically earned a 2-star rating and currently ranks in the middle of Alaska elementary schools, with English language arts and math proficiency that nudge past statewide averages but lag district averages. The most obvious weak spot is science: just 25 percent of students are proficient, a steep drop from the school’s 55.88 percent two years ago and far below the district’s 40.3 percent rate.

Early grades show what the school does well. In math, 3rd grade proficiency reaches 59 percent, well above the district’s 41.5 percent and the state’s 33.7 percent. By 5th grade, however, math proficiency drops to just 10.7 percent—the lowest of nearby Juneau elementary schools—and ELA also dips below the state average, suggesting the school loses momentum as students move up. Success is uneven across student groups: special education students stand out with high statewide percentile ratings in recent years, while girls and multiracial students have ranked considerably lower in comparison to their peers. White students and boys, meanwhile, have at times ranked in the upper half or higher of statewide percentile comparisons.

Spending doesn’t appear to explain results. Mendenhall River spends roughly $22,600 per student—far more than the $15,800 spent at Auke Bay Elementary, which still outperforms it in math, ELA, and science. The school also serves fewer students from low‑income families than Sit Eeti Shaanax - Glacier Valley School, yet that neighbor posts equal or stronger science scores. Parents may want to ask how Mendenhall River plans to rebuild its science program, support its 5th graders, and address the needs of girls and multiracial students before class sizes climb further—the student-teacher ratio recently jumped from 13.9 to 18.1, among the highest of Juneau’s elementary schools.