The top reported proficiency rate is 21% in Science. The lowest is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on William Tyson Elementary
William Tyson Elementary sits on Richmond Avenue in the Anchorage Bowl, part of the Anchorage School District. It serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as a standard neighborhood public school, not a charter or magnet program. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school in this district, with most students concentrated in the early grades and only a small handful in sixth grade.
The student body is one of the most diverse in an already diverse city. The largest single group is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, followed by students of two or more races and Alaska Native or American Indian students. Asian, Black, and Hispanic students each make up a meaningful share, while white students are the smallest group. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic character of the surrounding neighborhood rather than any individual family's circumstances. The school does not report its English learner or special education enrollment figures, so a parent looking for that information would need to ask the school directly.
Anchorage itself is Alaska's largest city and commercial center, built on defense, oil, aviation cargo, and tourism. The municipality is enormous in land area, but most residents live in the Anchorage Bowl, a developed promontory at the head of Cook Inlet. The city has big-city amenities like museums, theaters, and restaurants, yet wildlife and wilderness are immediate. Publicly reported sources note moose, bears, bald eagles, and salmon streams as everyday features of life in Anchorage. The trail system, including the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and paths along Chester and Campbell creeks, is a defining part of how people move through the city. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson sits northeast of downtown and is one of the region's largest employers, alongside Providence Alaska Medical Center, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and the State of Alaska.
The neighborhood around William Tyson, in the zip code covering this part of Anchorage, has more affordable housing than much of the state. Home values sit below the statewide benchmark and modestly below the national figure, with rents following a similar pattern. Both home prices and rents have been rising at a moderate pace recently. Renting is less expensive than carrying a mortgage in this area, and the rent-to-income ratio is in a range that many Anchorage families manage, though the price-to-income ratio for buyers runs higher than the national norm.
On state assessments through the AK STAR system, proficiency rates at William Tyson are low across all tested subjects. Math and English language arts proficiency fall in the single digits to low teens, and science is somewhat higher but still low. Participation rates are high, meaning nearly all eligible students took the assessments. The state does not provide average scale scores for this school, so there is no additional score-based context to draw on. No multi-year trend data is available, so it is not possible to say from the provided data whether these results are improving, stable, or declining. A parent may want to look into what the school is doing to support academic growth and what interventions are in place, especially in math and reading.
The school does not report discipline data, staffing levels, attendance figures, course access, or Title I status in the data available here. The Anchorage School District brief did not surface specific parent-relevant changes such as curriculum shifts, referendums, or property tax adjustments, so there is nothing to report on that front.
What the picture suggests is a neighborhood elementary school serving a highly diverse, economically disadvantaged student population in a city where urban amenities and wild terrain coexist. The academic results are a soft spot, and families considering this school would benefit from asking directly about instructional support, tutoring, after-school programs, and how the school partners with families. Anchorage's broader context as a city with strong cultural institutions, an extensive trail network, and a diversified economy shapes what life outside the school building looks like for students who attend.
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