Randy Smith Middle School

Randy Smith Middle School serves 413 students in grades 6–8 in Fairbanks, Alaska, and is part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. The school ranks 47th out of 90 Alaska middle schools overall — near the statewide middle — but beats district and state averages in both English Language Arts and math. Its math proficiency is 38.7% versus 32.2% statewide, and its ELA proficiency is 39.4% versus 32.9% statewide. The school has climbed from a low point in 2021-2022, but hasn't yet returned to its pre-2020 performance, when it consistently earned 4-star ratings.

Randy Smith Middle School is the highest-performing of the nearby Fairbanks middle schools — and by a wide margin. ELA proficiency tops Tanana Middle School by 7.2 points, North Pole Middle School by 9.5 points, and Ryan Middle School by 13.0 points. The math gap is similar, with Randy Smith leading its closest local rival by 9.0 points. Science is essentially tied with North Pole Middle School (43.4% vs. 44.0%) and well ahead of Tanana and Ryan. Even in 7th grade, where scores dip slightly below the school's own 6th- and 8th-grade results, Randy Smith still beats all three neighboring middle schools in reading and math.

Certain groups do particularly well here: Randy Smith ranks above nearly all Alaska schools serving Native American students, and it posts strong results for special education and Hispanic students as well. The notable weakness is low-income students, who ranked in the 16th percentile statewide in 2024-2025. Since Randy Smith has the lowest free-and-reduced-lunch rate (29.3%) of the four local middle schools and the highest per-pupil spending — though that figure is several years older than the test results — resources may explain part of its local edge, but the gap between its overall results and its low-income subgroup results is a real equity concern. Overall, Randy Smith is a solid mid-tier Alaska school, the strongest of its local group, with room to climb toward its pre-pandemic heights.