Summary:
Zip code 99508 in Anchorage, Alaska, is served by two middle schools—Clark Middle School and Wendler Middle School—both of which educate students in grades 6 through 8 within the Anchorage School District. These two schools represent the entire middle school landscape for families in this zip code, and their circumstances differ enough to matter when choosing a school.
Wendler Middle School is the stronger-performing school by nearly every academic measure. Wendler's proficiency rates of 29.17% in science, 21.54% in English language arts, and 19.82% in mathematics all outpace Clark Middle School's corresponding rates of 15.54%, 14.38%, and 12.13%. Wendler also operates with a lower student-teacher ratio of 20.9 compared to Clark's 26.0, serves a smaller share of economically disadvantaged students—72.59% eligible for free or reduced lunch versus 100.84% at Clark—and spends more per student, at $16,381 versus $15,430. Wendler has also shown real momentum, most notably in science, where proficiency climbed from 17.79% to 29.17% in a single year, and its 8th-grade English language arts proficiency of 25.51% is the brightest academic spot in the zip code.
Clark Middle School stands out for the scale of its challenges. Its near-universal free and reduced lunch rate and high student-teacher ratio place considerable strain on the school, and outcomes reflect that strain: only 12.13% of Clark students are proficient in math overall, and just 9.91% of 7th graders meet grade-level math expectations, meaning roughly nine in ten are falling short. Both schools have ranked in the bottom 10% of Alaska middle schools for three consecutive years and currently hold a zero-star rating. While Wendler is clearly the stronger choice within this zip code, both schools remain well below district and state proficiency averages in every subject and would benefit from sustained academic intervention and additional resources.
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