Wyoming’s on-time four-year high school graduation rate reached 83.1% for the 2024-2025 school year, the highest in a decade.
Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder told Wyoming News Now, "This isn't just simply a piece of paper that's handed to a student. This unlocks a future potential for Wyoming kids."
According to the Wyoming Department of Education, the state has returned to its graduation rate status that stood before the pandemic.
Degenfelder said a shift in education statewide has produced these positive results.
"The shift we've been having as a state for more individualized learning,” she said..” Moving away from the one size fits all model for students, into one where kids can get excited to go to school. Recognizing that they all learn differently."
In addition to pioneering new learning models, Degenfelder said public schools across Wyoming have partnered with different districts across the state and community colleges to focus on career and technical education as a pathway for career paths and opportunities post-graduation.
"At the state level we have been laser focused on my strategic plan initiatives of empowering parents, focusing on career and technical education, patriotism, teachers and early literacy," she said.
Degenfelder emphasized the power of education and the opportunity that it will unlock for Wyomingites' futures.
"When they are able to graduate with a high school degree, their future is that much brighter,” she said. “Opportunities for jobs, to be successful, to support themselves and give back to their communities."
State lawmakers are currently revising the model Wyoming uses to fund its public schools.
Lawmakers will also consider bills requiring schools to adopt cell phone and smart watch policies, offer menstrual pads and tampons in girls’ bathrooms and maintain amateur status in high school sports.
Those bills will be considered during the budget session that starts on Feb. 9.
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
