Wyoming’s annual assessment of student proficiency and school performance ratings show promising growth in the last school year, but room for improvement remains, according to the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE).
Highlights include statewide students’ test scores for English language arts (ELA) and science returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, math scores saw what the department called a steady increase since 2021, but still trail pre-pandemic levels.
Student proficiency assessments
Wyoming assesses students with the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP) and Wyoming Alternate Assessment (WY-ALT). The tests cover ELA and math for grades 3 through 10, with an assessment in science in grades 4, 8 and 10.
Statewide for the 2024 to 2025 school year, WDE says performance in all three tested content areas increased by 1 to 3% over the previous year.
More than half of students in traditional schools grades 3 through 7 received scores of “proficient” or “advanced” in ELA, math and science. But middle and high schoolers garnered more varied results. Eighth graders, for example, were just shy of 50% of assessed students scoring “proficient” and “advanced” in math and science, but 61% of students hit those higher marks for ELA.
During a press conference announcing this year’s assessment results, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder pointed to Dubois as a “shining star” for seeing 33.5% growth in ELA assessments for middle schoolers.
ELA teacher Jennifer Bowles, who was recognized as Fremont County School District #2’s teacher of the year in January, said her district’s growth in the subject is a testament to her small school’s peer-to-peer mentorship and hands-on learning.
“This year's growth belongs as much to Dubois as a community as it does to Dubois schools. When students see their families, neighbors, local experts invested in their success, they know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves,” she said.
Among small district schools, Ten Sleep K-12 School topped the rest for a second year in a row.
School performance ratings
Just over half of traditional schools in the state are meeting or exceeding expectations, according to WDE. But Degenfelder said despite the “wonderful results,” there’s still much work to do.
“The percentage of schools not meeting expectations only reduced by 1%, and 7% of Wyoming schools have not been meeting expectations for three or more years,” she said.
Degenfelder also announced her department is embarking on a process to revamp the kind of support the state offers to schools.
“ Not only are we creating reorganization within the Department of Education, combining both federal and state supports, but creating transformational Critical School Improvement Plans and using data in a more meaningful way than we ever have before, creating a PLC [professional learning community] of sorts at the state level,” she said.
WDE described the plans as “designed not merely as compliance tools but as strategic roadmaps for continuous growth and achievement for the most underperforming schools.”
As Wyoming school performance ratings are generally trending up, charter schools continue to lag, though with a few exceptions.
In the 2023-2024 school year, the state’s five charter schools at that time were “Not Meeting” expectations. This year, Wyoming Classical in Casper is “Meeting,” and Prairie View in Cheyenne and Cheyenne Classical are “Partially Meeting.”
The department said alternative schools are showing a 20% increase in “Meeting” or “Exceeding Expectations” from last year, now at 95%.
The ratings are based on student growth, readiness, assessment tests and English language proficiency. Alternative schools also include climate and engagement as indicators.
