The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Science. The lowest is 48% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Craig Elementary
Craig Elementary sits in the largest town on Prince of Wales Island, a working-waterfront community where commercial fishing, fish processing, and the timber industry anchor the local economy. The town of Craig is organized around its two harbors and the boat traffic they bring. Transportation to and from the island relies on floatplanes, the Inter-Island Ferry from Ketchikan to Hollis, and roads across Prince of Wales Island. The town is small, with civic and commercial life centered on the waterfront, and the school appears integrated into the community rather than sitting on a separated campus. The U.S. Forest Service is the other main employer besides the fishing industry, and the city runs a medical clinic. Publicly reported sources note that Craig's population declined over recent census periods, though more recent estimates suggest modest growth. The community has historically ridden boom-and-bust cycles in fishing and timber, and no major new housing developments were identified.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, which means it has no graduation rate and no high school course offerings to speak of. State testing applies to grades three through eight, so only the upper elementary grades at Craig Elementary participate in those assessments. The tested group is small, which is expected for a school of this size in an island community.
On the most recent state assessments, math proficiency landed above the halfway mark, with nearly all eligible students participating. English language arts proficiency came in just below the halfway point, a softer result that a parent may want to look into further with the school. Science was a bright spot, with a solid majority of the small tested group reaching proficiency and full participation. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. Average scale scores were also missing, which limits the picture to proficiency rates alone. The school does not appear in any neighbor comparison set, so positioning against nearby districts is not possible from the available data.
The student body is small, as one would expect on Prince of Wales Island. The racial and ethnic composition is diverse: the two largest groups are students identified as two or more races and students identified as white, with a meaningful share identified as American Indian or Alaska Native. Very small numbers of Asian and Hispanic students round out the population. Economic need is high, with the free and reduced-price lunch count exceeding the total enrollment, a pattern that typically reflects community eligibility provisions serving a high-poverty area. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
Several categories that parents often ask about were absent from the data. No discipline reports, course access details, staffing figures, or attendance rates were available. Title I status was not reported, and the school's locale classification was missing. Civil rights data was not provided. Program offerings, such as any specialized instruction or extracurriculars, were not listed. The district brief for Craig City School District turned up little of lasting impact in the way of recent parent-relevant changes.
What the available information does show is a small island elementary school with solid math and science results, a softer ELA outcome, a diverse student body, and high economic need across the community it serves. The setting is remote, maritime, and tied to natural-resource industries, and the school is woven into a town where the waterfront is the center of life. For a parent weighing this school, the academic signal is mixed but not weak, and the missing pieces in the data, particularly around staffing, discipline, and special populations, are gaps worth asking about directly.
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