Richard Johnson Elementary

Richard Johnson Elementary is a small public school in Metlakatla, Alaska, serving 130 students in grades PK–5. It is part of the Annette Island School District, which ranks low statewide, but the school itself performs far above its district in every subject—for example, 29.4% proficient in ELA versus 16.9% across the district. Nearly all students (96%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a far higher rate than nearby Ketchikan schools. With roughly $28,700 spent per student and only 8.2 students per teacher, the school makes substantial investments in each child, reflecting high needs and the costs of serving a remote island community.

Compared with schools in the nearby Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, Richard Johnson is in the middle of the pack in reading. In 2025–26, its ELA proficiency (29.4%) was just above Houghtaling Elementary (29.0%) and below Fawn Mountain Elementary (33.3%), despite serving a student population with much higher economic disadvantage. Math is a weaker area: 25.5% proficient, surpassing only Ketchikan Charter School (18.7%) but trailing Fawn Mountain (42.2%), Tongass School of Arts and Sciences Charter School (32.1%), and Houghtaling (32.3%). Given that its poverty rate is roughly double that of these nearby schools, its competitive reading scores are noteworthy, while math is a clear improvement focus.

The most encouraging signs are in the school's work with the students it serves. Specifically, low-income students at Richard Johnson Elementary reached the 78th percentile statewide in 2024–25, and Alaska Native students ranked in the 55th percentile in 2025–26—both well above the school's overall 19th-percentile rank. The school has also rebounded from a difficult 2022–23 year, when only 6.7% of students met ELA standards, to about 29% in recent years. For a remote, high-poverty Alaska Native community, Richard Johnson shows genuine strengths that an overall ranking alone doesn't capture, making it a school that deserves a closer look.