Ticasuk Brown Elementary

Ticasuk Brown Elementary is a traditional PK–5 public school in Fairbanks, AK, serving 351 students within the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, where roughly 40% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school currently ranks in the 31st percentile statewide (2 stars), which places it in the lower-middle tier of Alaska schools—but this marks a meaningful rebound from last year's 17th percentile showing, with proficiency climbing in ELA (24% to 31%), math (24% to 32%), and science (28% to 47%) over the past year.

Academically, Ticasuk Brown presents a mixed picture that parents will want to understand. The most striking pattern is the difference between grade levels: 3rd-grade proficiency is dramatically below district averages in both reading (14% vs. 33%) and math (19% vs. 35%), yet by 5th grade, students are actually performing at or above district and state averages in both subjects—with reading at 48% and math at 45%. Science is currently a relative strength, exceeding the state average. When compared with nearby schools, Ticasuk Brown outranks Hunter Elementary and Denali Elementary, performs similarly to Anne Wien Elementary and Discovery Peak Charter School, but trails notably behind magnet and charter options like Barnette Magnet School (83rd percentile) and Chinook Montessori Charter School (86th percentile), as well as traditional schools such as Ladd Elementary and Weller Elementary.

The most urgent concern is outcomes for special education students, where the school ranks at the 7th percentile statewide—among the weakest in Alaska. Results for other subgroups, including low-income and White students, also sit below state medians, though military-connected students have shown steady improvement. The school's student-teacher ratio of 16.7 is among the most favorable in its neighborhood, suggesting staffing resources exist to support growth. For parents, the key question is whether the impressive 3rd-to-5th grade gains reflect real academic growth—which would signal effective late-elementary support—or simply different cohorts of students. Either way, the weak 3rd-grade scores point to early intervention in PK–2 as the clearest opportunity for sustained improvement.