Student proficiency test scores released

The Wyoming Department of Education recently released the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP) results for all schools within Wyoming.

Stat Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Balow said, “We went from a paper and pencil, multiple-choice-only test that provided limited useful information to teachers, to an adaptable, interactive, online assessment that gives teachers data that can be used to inform instruction.

“I’m so proud of the teachers, principals, tech directors and assessment coordinators who helped make this transition as seamless as it could be for students.”

These numbers create a new baseline for statewide assessment results. From this point forward, proficiency rates will no longer be compared with PAWS, the Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students.

WY-TOPP results will be used to inform accountability determinations, which will be released on Nov. 1.

With a few exceptions, students from Hot Springs County tested at or above the state averages.

In third grade math, 20.83 percent of students tested below basic in math skills, 29.17 percent at basic, 30.50 percent proficient and 12.50 percent advanced.

Compare those numbers to the state average of 23.4 percent below basic, 25.3 percent basic, 29.4 percent proficient and 21.9 percent advanced and you will see our third grade math students are doing very well.

Language arts, or English on the third grade levels show RWE students are 18.75 percent below basic, 33.33 percent at a basic level, 35.42 percent proficient and 12.5 percent advanced.

State averages for third grade Language arts were 23 percent below average, 25.6 percent basic, 36 percent proficient and 15.5 percent advanced.

Although we are slightly lower in advanced skills, we are well below the state average in below basic students and well above average at the basic level.

Fourth graders tested in math showed 4.35 percent are below basic in math skills, with 23.91 basic, 32.61 percent proficient and 39.13 percent advanced.

Compared to state numbers with 23.5 percent of students testing below basic, 35.7 percent at basic, 25.7 percent proficient and 25.1 percent advanced, RWE’s fourth graders are rocking math.

When it comes to Language arts, fourth graders tested 10.87 percent below basic, 3.91 percent basic, 39.13 percent proficient and 39.13 percent advanced.

The state averages show fourth graders in Wyoming tested 23.4 percent below basic, 27.4 percent basic, 30.5 percent proficient and 18.7 percent advanced.

Our fourth graders are well below the average fourth graders in below basic and extremely above the number of advanced English students.

The fourth graders were the only ones tested in Science for this round of WY-TOPP, showing 10.87 percent below basic, 21.74 percent basic, 41.30 percent proficient and 26.09 percent advanced.

Again, our fourth graders were exceptional compared to the state averages of 17 percent below basic, 31.2 percent basic, 36.3 percent proficient and 15.6 percent advanced.

WY-TOPP for fifth graders in math showed 23.64 percent below basic, 23.64 percent basic, 34.55 percent proficient and 18.18 percent advanced.

These numbers are fairly consistent with the state averages of 22.8 below basic, 24.2 percent basic, 33 percent proficient and 20 percent advanced.

Our Language arts scores are also in line with the state averages, with TMS students scoring 16.36 percent below basic, 23.64 percent basic, 38.18 percent proficient and 21.82 percent advanced, compared to the state averages of 21.3 percent below basic, 20.1 percent basic, 39.3 percent proficient and 19.4 percent advanced.

Sixth graders at TMS are doing well in math, with just 7.02 percent below basic, 26.32 percent basic, 40.35 proficient and 26.32 percent advanced.

That is a fairly significant difference from the state averages of 23.9 percent below basic, 24.2 percent basic, 30.5 percent proficient and 21.5 percent advanced.

Language arts on the sixth grade level are doing well, too, with 12.25 percent below basic, 26.32 percent basic, 47.37 percent proficient and 14.04 percent advanced, compared to the state averages of 23.2 percent below basic, 19.3 percent basic, 40.4 percent proficient and 17.1 percent advanced.

Seventh grade math scores are exceptional with 9.8 percent testing below basic, 19.61 percent basic, 33.33 percent proficient and 37.25 percent advanced.

On a state level, seventh graders are averaging 25.8 percent below basic, 25 percent basic, 25.8 percent proficient and 22.4 percent advanced.

Our student’s Language arts scores are just about average with the rest of the state with 15.69 percent below basic, 19.61 percent basic, 43.14 percent proficient and 21.57 percent advanced.

Those numbers fall inside the scores statewide of 25.9 percent below basic, 19.7 percent basic, 36.9 percent proficient and 17.5 percent advanced.

Freshmen and Sophomores were the only classes to take the WY-TOPP tests at the high school, and only in math and Language arts.

Math scores for the freshmen were excellent with 15.22 percent below basic, 43.48 percent basic, 36.96 percent proficient and 4.35 percent advanced.

These scores are well ahead of the state average of 30.4 percent below basic, 28.1 percent basic, 30 percent proficient and 22.4 percent advanced.

Language arts for the freshmen class show 43.48 percent below basic, 19.57 percent basic, 34.78 percent proficient and 2.17 percent advanced. Those scores vary a bit, especially in the below basic and advanced categories statewide with 37.3 percent below basic, 18.3 percent basic, 33.4 percent proficient and 11 percent advanced across Wyoming.

Sophomore math scores are good as well with 13.46 percent below basic, 26.92 percent basic, 44.23 percent proficient and 15.38 percent advanced.

WY-TOPP scores in math for sophomores in Wyoming average 33.4 percent below basic, 23.7 percent basic, 28.1 percent proficient and 14.8 percent advanced.

The Language arts scores for our sophomores is nearly exact with the averages for the state with our students scoring 19.23 percent below basic, 23.08 percent basic, 38.46 percent proficient and 19.23 percent advanced.

On a statewide level, scores wer 25 percent below basic, 24.1 percent basic, 31.9 percent proficient and 19.1 percent advanced.