Sheridan County School Districts Above Testing Average For 2022-23 School Year; Johnson County Below Average In Four Categories

The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) has released results for the 2022-23 Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP) and Wyoming Alternate Assessment (WY-ALT).

Wyoming’s 2022-23 assessment results show slight increases in overall proficiency rates within each content area.

Overall student proficiency rates increased in English Language Arts (ELA) by 0.5%, in Math by 0.7%, and in Science by 1% compared to 2021-22.

However, proficiency rates in ELA in grades 4, 5, 7 and in Math in grades 4 and 9 declined slightly.

The WY-TOPP assessment began in 2017-18. In the spring of 2020, school districts received a waiver allowing them to forgo assessment, therefore no data was produced.

Although the 2022-23 results show proficiency rate increases in all three content areas, they remain slightly below pre-pandemic levels, ranging from 1-2% below the 2018-19 scores.

“Overall increases in assessment scores, no matter how minor, is promising, as our schools continue to work to achieve pre-pandemic levels. Many districts saw double-digit growth in content areas and/or grades and that should be celebrated. But overall, we must do better. While our state standards and assessment cut scores are set intentionally high, proficiency below 50% in any content area or grade isn’t good enough. It wouldn’t be good enough in the private sector, and it isn’t good enough for our kids. At the WDE, we are actively working to bolster our statewide system of support and will directly work with schools and districts to improve these assessment scores,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.

“This year we are releasing education data in a more transparent manner than ever before and are including resources for parents to better understand the data,” Degenfelder said.

The buck stops at student success.

Districts showing promising impacts on progress by achieving proficiency rates above 70% include but are not limited to:

     * Unita #4 – 74.% in Science (increased this year by 18.6%).
     * Washakie #2 – 70.8% in ELA (above 70% for the last two years).
     * Sheridan #1 – 70.7% in ELA  (steady growth since 2019) .
     * Hot Springs #1 – 70.5% in Math (up from 66% the last two years).

Wyoming students in the assessed grades had an overall 99% participation rate on the WY-TOPP and WY-ALT assessments.

Participation of virtual education students rose significantly to 93%, up from 85% from the previous year.

Students in 3rd through 10th grades were tested in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, while 4th, 8th, and 10th graders had an additional test in science.

Sheridan County School District #2:

For Sheridan County School District #2, student proficiency numbers were above the state average in all categories, and the best overall improvement was in all grade levels between and including 5th through 8th grade.

The biggest individual improvement was in 8th and 5th grade math which were both up between 7 and 8 percentage points.

The biggest overall drop was at the 9th grade level, with 9th grade math seeing the biggest individual drop, down by nearly 16 percentage points, but was still above state average.

Sheridan County School District #1:

Sheridan County School District #1, was also above state average in all categories, and the best overall improvement was in 8th and 4th grade, in particular the science category, which was up 20 and 16 percentage points respectively.

The biggest overall drop was in 3rd grade, and the biggest individual drop was 6th grade ELA which was down nearly 13 percentage points.

Sheridan County School District #3:

It’s hard to tell what kind of a difference there is, because in some grades the tests were either not administered, or there was no one at a specific grade level to take the tests. Due to overall low enrollment numbers compared to other school districts, if 1 or 2 students show an increase or a decrease, that can have a large impact on percentage numbers up or down.

Johnson County School District:

The Johnson County School District was below state average in 4 categories…3rd, 4th and 9th grade ELA, and 6th grade math, which saw the biggest individual drop from the previous school year, down by more than 15 percentage points. 

The biggest overall improvement was in the 10th grade, with math and science proficiency numbers up more than 24 and 18 percentage points respectively and are now above state average.

Click here to see more detailed results