Best Public Schools in Zip Code 99672

ZIP code 99672 is home to a single school, Sterling Elementary, which serves grades PK through 6 within the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, an above-average Alaska district ranked 10th out of 23. With just 114 students and a low student-to-teacher ratio of 11.2, Sterling is a small elementary school where roughly 38.6% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because there are no middle or high schools in the area, this analysis focuses entirely on the school’s own performance across recent testing years.

Sterling Elementary shows a mixed but concerning pattern. In 2024-25, the school beat both district and state averages in science (47.06%) and mathematics (42.65%), but in 2025-26 science plunged to 20% and math fell to 33.85%, now below the district though still marginally above the state. The most persistent weakness is English Language Arts: proficiency sat at just 23.53% in 2024-25 and 24.62% in 2025-26, far behind the district’s 37.67% and the state’s 32.89%. Looking at grade-level detail for 2025-26, 4th-grade math stands out as a clear bright spot at 53.85% proficiency, well above the district (44.62%) and state (34.83%). Third-grade ELA (33.33%) is essentially at state level, but 6th-grade ELA is especially weak at 26.32% versus the district’s 40.43% and state’s 35.58%. No 5th-grade ELA or math scores were reported, possibly due to small cohort sizes.

The school’s statewide percentile rank has slipped from the 43rd percentile in 2024-25 to the 34th percentile in 2025-26, and it has remained a 2-star school for three consecutive years. With such a small enrollment, year-to-year swings are expected — the dramatic science drop and the decline in math likely reflect genuine cohort or instructional changes rather than a district-wide testing shift. The consistent low ELA scores, however, signal a systemic challenge that deserves targeted literacy intervention. Sterling Elementary is an underperformer within a relatively strong district, and while 4th-grade math shows what is possible, the overall slide in performance — especially in reading and science — means parents should look closely at grade-level results and ask the school about its improvement plans for literacy and science instruction.