Last year the Wyoming Department of Education changed the statewide assessment it uses to gauge the health of the state's K-12 education system. The results of the 2017-18 WY-TOPP exam are the baseline for statewide assessment moving forward. Around 50 percent of students performed at proficient or advanced in language arts, mathematics and science.
WY-TOPP — or the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress — replaced the PAWS exam. Superintendent Jillian Balow said the new test comes with some major updates.
"In one year our Wyoming schools went from, or our Wyoming students, went from a paper and pencil multiple choice test to an adaptive and engaging online assessment," said Balow.
The new online platform gives schools the option to do interim assessments to identify areas where educators need to provide more resources and instruction. Balow added that WY-TOPP also eats up less instructional time and is less expensive than its predecessor PAWS.
