Barrow High School

Barrow High School is a public high school in Utqiagvik, AK, serving roughly 259 students across grades 9–12 in one of the most remote Arctic communities in the United States. It is part of the North Slope Borough School District, a district ranked near the bottom of Alaska’s 23 districts, and Barrow’s own statewide standing is 58th out of 62 Alaska high schools for 2025–2026, placing it in the 6th percentile. A decade ago, the school ranked near the middle of the state, but recent years have seen it consistently land among the lowest-performing schools in Alaska.

Academically, math is the most serious challenge. In 2024–2025, only about 5.5 percent of Barrow students scored proficient or above in math, compared with roughly 32 percent statewide. English Language Arts proficiency has ranged from about 11 to 19 percent over the past two years, also far below the statewide average of 32–33 percent. Science results have been somewhat stronger by comparison, and Barrow often posts scores above its own district average — for example, science proficiency reached 27.5 percent in 2024–2025, more than double the district’s 10.6 percent. Graduation rates, however, have dropped sharply. After peaking at 77.7 percent in 2022–2023, the rate fell to 66.0 percent in 2024–2025.

Parents may find it useful to compare Barrow with nearby Kiita Learning Community, an alternative-style high school located just under a mile away. Kiita is far smaller — 39 students versus Barrow’s 259 — and offers a lower student-teacher ratio of about 9.7 compared with Barrow’s 13.2. Kiita also recorded a higher graduation rate last year at 70.5 percent, and it spends more per student at roughly $46,400 versus Barrow’s $41,000. These spending levels reflect the very high cost of providing schooling in a remote Arctic setting rather than a guarantee of academic results. Barrow High School remains the district’s main comprehensive high school, and while its test scores and rankings are certainly concerning, it has occasionally shown stronger outcomes for certain student subgroups and generally performs better than the district average in several subjects.