A Ukrainian man who was not a member of the group was also killed, according to the Agence France-Presse.
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The avalanche occurred after a large sheet of snow broke off above a black-rated slope that had been closed following several days of heavy snowfall.
Local officials did not give any information on the number of missing but said 60 workers had been mobilized in the search-and-rescue operation.
According to initial reports by witnesses, the students were skiing on a ski slope that had been closed since the beginning of the season due to lack of snow.
A teacher and three other children have been rescued alive.
The avalanche struck a group of around 19 secondary school pupils and their teacher, who was found unconscious. Their teacher was seriously injured and taken to hospital in nearby Grenoble.
Searches for up to 20 people took place on the mountainside this afternoon, but police said all of the school group have been accounted for now.
Local media said the black slope had been closed to skiers at the time of Wednesday’s avalanche.
The final death toll is three dead – a girl aged 16, a boy and an adult.
Les Deux Alpes resort deputy head Didier Bobillier said it was too early to comment on whether safety warnings were ignored.
‘The current avalanche risk is four, on a scale of five. Fresh snow did not attach enough’ to the older layer.
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Two of those students and the Ukrainian died in its aftermath, they said, while a rescue operation was quickly launched to find and care for the others. Expert Dominique Letang, from the country’s Association for the Study of Snow and Avalanches, theorized that the skiers themselves triggered the incident.
