The start of the school year means making new friends and exciting opportunities for students. It also is the time for parents to evaluate the effectiveness of school options. One way to help guide this evaluation process is with annual school assessments. Those details are now available for Wyoming parents.
According to the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE):
“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.”
Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder said about the 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.”
Public charter schools in Wyoming continued to perform well as noted by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle:
"The district’s two public charter schools, PODER Academy and PODER Academy Secondary School, were among the 12 institutions statewide that maintained a rating of 'exceeding expectations' for a third year in a row."
WDE says school performance ratings are determined from a variety of indicators:
Student growth
Readiness
Achievement
Equity
English language proficiency
Postsecondary readiness
Graduation rates
Credits earned
Here are additional details on the Wyoming K-12 test results:
The Joint Education Committee of the Wyoming legislature met last month to consider a series of proposals aimed at improving education outcomes.
Providing parents and students with more school choice options is the next test Wyoming policymakers need to pass.