Hot Springs County students perform well on PAWS tests

Hot Springs County School District #1 is proud to announce four “top ten” rankings on PAWS. Recently released PAWS scores highlight new success for our HSCSD1 students.

The 2014­-15 5th graders are ranked third in the State of Wyoming in reading and sixth in math. The 2014­-15 4th graders ranked seventh in the state in reading, while the 6th graders were ranked tenth in math and the 7th graders also shined with an eleventh place ranking in math.

PAWS scores can be difficult to understand. With a variety of committees organized by the Wyoming Department of Education and hired consultants determining the cut scores for each grade level and content area it can cause confusion and frustration for teachers, students and parents.

One of the most consistent measures the administrative team at HSCSD1 has found for determining how our students are doing as “cohort” or grade level groups is to watch how they rank amongst their Wyoming peers from year to year as a group. This is called our “PAWS Rankings” and it gives us an idea of how our Hot Springs County School District #1 students perform as a grade level group in comparison to their peers across the state in the other 47 Wyoming school districts.

The 2015 PAWS cohort rankings emphasize the hard work of staff and students as we have implemented higher expectations for students with an emphasis on reading, writing, math and science. As we have asked more of our students they have proven again and again that they are up to the challenge and take pride in their achievements.

The overall strength of our math program can be seen in higher rankings. One of the district goals in 2015­-16 will be to establish clearer targets for our literacy programs and high expectations for students in reading and writing.

In partnership with parents and community it is evident that the students of Hot Springs County School District #1 are more than capable of achieving at the highest levels.