William H. Seward Elementary School

William H. Seward Elementary School is a small public school in Seward, Alaska, serving about 205 students in grades PK through 5 within the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Because it is the only school within 20 miles, the most useful comparisons here are district and statewide benchmarks. With a favorable 12.2-to-1 student-teacher ratio and a modest share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, class sizes and support are relative strengths worth noting.

Parents will be encouraged by several academic highlights. Science is the school’s clear standout: 56.8% of students scored proficient, well above the district (43.9%) and state (37.8%). Reading and writing skills have also improved sharply, climbing from 25.2% proficient in 2022-23 to 41.2% in 2025-26, now ahead of both district and state averages. Upper-elementary students, especially in 4th grade, are performing particularly well in English language arts, and the school’s special education students earned a remarkable 3rd-in-the-state ranking in 2024-25, showing an exceptional level of support for this group.

The picture is mixed, however, in a few areas. Math proficiency overall sits slightly behind the district, mainly because of a soft spot in 3rd-grade math, where scores trail both district and state averages. The school also has not yet returned to its earlier high statewide rankings from several years ago; it currently sits near the middle of Alaska elementary schools. Since enrollment is small, results can swing notably from year to year based on individual grade-level cohorts, so continuing to watch these trends over time gives the clearest sense of the school’s trajectory.