The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Math. The lowest is 32% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Rae C. Stedman Elementary
Rae C. Stedman Elementary sits on Dolphin Street in Petersburg, a small island town at the north end of the Wrangell Narrows in Southeast Alaska. Petersburg is reachable only by air or sea, with daily Alaska Airlines flights and scheduled ferry service through the Alaska Marine Highway. The town grew around commercial fishing, and that remains the economic backbone today. The harbor, lined with working boats and canneries, is the center of civic and commercial life. Norwegian heritage runs deep here, visible in the rosemaling on buildings and the Sons of Norway Hall on Sing Lee Alley, and the surrounding Tongass National Forest shapes both the setting and the local culture. For a parent considering this school, the context is a close-knit, geographically isolated community where the waterfront and fishing economy define daily rhythms.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and belongs to the Petersburg Borough School District. Enrollment is modest, consistent with what you would expect for an elementary school in a town of this size. The student body reflects Petersburg's mixed population. A majority of students are white, and a substantial share are Alaska Native, with smaller groups identifying as Asian, Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and two or more races. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives a sense of the economic profile of the families the school serves.
On state assessments, the most recent results show a mixed academic picture. Math proficiency sits in a middle range, with nearly half of tested students meeting or exceeding the state proficiency bar. Science results are in a similar zone. English language arts is the softer area, with a smaller share of students reaching proficiency. Participation is essentially universal across all three subjects, which means the results reflect nearly the entire tested population rather than a skewed subset. A parent whose child tends to struggle with reading may want to look into how the school supports literacy development further.
The school does not have charter or magnet status. Data on special populations, including students with individualized education programs and English learners, was not available in the materials reviewed, so those gaps are noted here rather than filled. The same is true for staffing ratios, discipline data, course access details, and attendance figures. What the data does tell you is that this is a traditional public elementary school operating within a small borough district.
Petersburg itself has seen modest population growth and recently reorganized as a borough government, absorbing the former city and surrounding areas. No major new housing developments surfaced in available sources. The housing market shows a sharp recent run-up in values, with the typical home price climbing well above year-ago levels and sitting near the state benchmark. The price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here requires a meaningful stretch relative to national norms, something a family relocating for fishing work or other employment should weigh carefully. Rental data was not available, which limits the picture for families who would rent rather than buy.
The district brief returned no recent parent-relevant changes such as curriculum shifts, referenda, or property-tax adjustments. That absence does not mean nothing is happening, only that the search did not surface documented lasting changes a parent should know about.
What this school offers is a small, community-rooted elementary education in a remote fishing town with strong cultural identity and a student body that mirrors the local population. Academic results are solid in math and science and less certain in literacy, which is where a prospective parent would want to ask the most questions. The isolation of Petersburg means the school is a central institution in children's lives rather than one option among many, and for families drawn to that kind of environment, that intimacy is part of the appeal.
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