The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Fast Track
Fast Track is a small public school in Ketchikan, Alaska, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade under the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District. With an enrollment that is modest even for a single-grade school and spread across every grade from kindergarten through senior year, it functions as something closer to a compact, multi-age learning community than a conventional graded school. Many grades have only a handful of students. This structure may appeal to families looking for a setting where each child is highly visible to staff, though it also means peer groups within a given grade are naturally limited.
The school sits in Ketchikan, a Southeast Alaska waterfront community reachable only by sea and air. The town is long and narrow, hemmed in by steep, forested terrain, with most of its built environment concentrated along the waterfront. The economy rests on government services, tourism, and commercial fishing. A large seasonal workforce arrives each summer for the cruise ship season, bringing a surge of visitors and activity to downtown, which is a National Historic Landmark District. The surrounding borough extends north and south along the Tongass Highway, with small rural settlements accessible mostly by water. The Tongass National Forest surrounds the city, and the U.S. Forest Service maintains its headquarters in the downtown Federal Building. Cultural institutions like the Totem Heritage Center, Tongass Historical Museum, and Saxman Totem Park are woven into the community, and the University of Alaska Southeast maintains a Ketchikan campus in town.
State assessment data for Fast Track is extremely thin. Only a small number of students in the tested grades sat for the AK STAR assessment in math and English language arts, and the participation rate was low. Among those tested, English language arts results were mixed, with roughly half demonstrating proficiency. Math results were weaker. Science results were suppressed, likely owing to the very small number of students in tested grades. Because so few students participated, these results should be read as a limited snapshot rather than a reliable indicator of schoolwide performance. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly how the school supports students across such a wide grade span with a small staff.
Demographically, the school's student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Alaska Native and American Indian presence, along with a smaller share of multiracial students. Free and reduced-price lunch data was not available, nor were IEP or English learner figures, so the picture of student need and support services is incomplete from the data we have.
No graduation rate, course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance data was provided for this school. Given that Fast Track serves all grades including high school, the absence of a graduation rate is a gap a family might want to ask about directly. No program offerings, AP or dual-credit pathways, or career and technical education information was available either, which leaves a parent without a clear sense of the academic pathway for older students.
The housing market in Ketchikan's zip code sits above both state and national benchmarks for typical home values, and recent year-over-year appreciation has been strong. The price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here requires a relatively substantial income compared with national norms. At the district level, the FY25 budget included a mill rate increase for local property taxes, the first such increase since FY19, which directly affects what residents pay. The district has also entered a multi-year agreement with Sealaska Heritage Institute for the Tlingit Language Reclamation Project, an effort to integrate Tlingit language and culture into curriculum across schools, which families may see reflected in what their children learn.
What Fast Track offers is a very small, personal setting in an isolated but culturally rich Southeast Alaska community. The data gaps are wide enough that a family considering this school should plan to visit and ask directly about academic pathways for older students, support services, and how the school uses its compact size to advantage.
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