Denali PEAK is an alternative public virtual school serving grades PK-12 in Healy, Alaska, with a student population of 735 as of the 2022-2023 school year. While the school has a diverse student body, it faces several challenges, including lower test scores, high student-teacher ratios, and relatively low spending per student compared to the state and national averages.
Denali PEAK's test scores are generally lower than the Denali Borough School District and the state of Alaska averages across various subjects and grade levels. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, Denali PEAK's proficiency rates in ASA/Science were significantly lower than the district and state averages. Additionally, the school has a very low percentage of free and reduced lunch recipients, indicating a relatively affluent student population, and a very high student-teacher ratio, ranging from 118.1 in 2022-2023 to 162.3 in 2020-2021, which may impact the quality of instruction and individual attention students receive.
Interestingly, Denali PEAK's performance is generally lower than the nearby Tri-Valley School, which is also part of the Denali Borough School District. Tri-Valley School outperforms Denali PEAK in both test scores and student-teacher ratio, suggesting that the alternative virtual model may not be as effective as the traditional in-person model. While Denali PEAK has a more diverse student population compared to Tri-Valley School, the high student-teacher ratio, low spending per student, and alternative virtual model may be contributing factors to the school's lower performance.
Denali PEAK ranks 48th of 173 Alaska alternative schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.
Denali Borough School District
In the 2023-24 school year, 745 students attended Denali PEAK.
Students at Denali PEAK are 59% White, 14% Two or more races, 10% American Indian, 7% Hispanic, 6% African American, 3% Asian, 2% Pacific Islander.