 - A recent review of standardized assessment scores showed Riverton High School students tested below the state average in all subjects in 2023-2024.){kind=link}
(Riverton, WY) – A recent review of standardized assessment scores showed Riverton High School students tested below the state average in all subjects in 2023-2024.
“Our high school is concerning,” Fremont County School District 25 Superintendent Jodi Ibach said during a Riverton School Board meeting last year. “But we believe that our team there is working really hard, and our teachers are working really hard to turn the tide on that. Some new things are in place, and we will see some improvement moving forward.”
Only 36.4 percent of RHS students achieved overall proficiency in all subjects on the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress in 2023-2024, according to Ibach’s presentation – well below the state average of 47.1 percent.
In English language arts, Ibach’s presentation showed 43.6 percent of RHS students were proficient compared to the statewide average of 51 percent, while in math, 27.1 percent of RHS students were proficient compared to the statewide average of 43.1 percent, and in science, 40.8 percent of RHS students were proficient compared to the statewide average of 47.5 percent.
RMS
Results were more mixed at Riverton Middle School, where Ibach said the “sixth grade and eighth grade were very successful (in) reaching the state average,” while “our seventh grade did not.”
Her presentation showed that 59 percent of RMS sixth graders and 56.9 percent of RMS eighth graders were proficient in all subjects on the 2023-2024 WY-TOPP test compared to the statewide averages of 56.8 percent and 51.8 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, 47.1 percent of RMS seventh graders were proficient in all subjects compared to the statewide average of 52.8 percent for that age group, according to the presentation.
Elementary
In the elementary schools, Ibach said “our fourth grade and our fifth grade were successful in meeting the state average in all but the mathematics for fourth grade” – but while Riverton third graders “were close” to meeting the state average on last year’s WY-TOPP test, they “weren’t quite there.”
More detailed, school-specific information showed that the third graders at Willow Creek Elementary “actually did beat the state average,” however, testing at 65.10 percent proficient and advanced in English language arts and 63.6 percent proficient and advanced in math compared to the statewide average of 53.1 percent and 57.1 percent in those subjects, respectively, she noted.
Year-to-year
Compared to 2022-2023, Ibach’s presentation showed that 36.3 percent of the students who attend Rendezvous Elementary, RMS, RHS, and Frontier Academy recorded “low growth” last year, while 27.7 percent recorded “typical” growth and 36 percent recorded “high growth.”
“With all grades combined we’re about one-third, one-third, one-third in each (category) – which is typical, but not where we want to be,” she said.
When separating out each school, however, she pointed out that “we have a pretty high percentage of high growth in some of those areas, so we are making gains.”
Another year-to-year comparison showed achievement data for students in the bottom 25th percentile at Riverton schools.
At Rendezvous Elementary, Ibach said those students achieved above the state average for growth last year in every category except fifth-grade math, while at RMS and RHS, “again, as anywhere, we have room for improvement.”
“Fifty percents are not our goal,” Ibach said. “We’ll be relentless in continuing to make progress.”
Rendezvous also recorded only one below-average ranking among its student demographic subgroups, according to Ibach’s presentation, while RMS recorded seven and RHS recorded 22.
Graduation
The four-year graduation rate at RHS was 64 percent in 2022-2023 compared to the statewide average of 81.4 percent, according to Ibach’s presentation.
“In comparison to the state … we’ve got room for improvement,” she said.
RHS is also “lagging behind the state” in most post-secondary readiness indicators, Ibach said, “but we do have some plans in place” to address that deficit, “because this is an indicator that we should be meeting.”
“Post-secondary readiness … describes college readiness, career readiness, and military readiness,” Ibach explained. “(So) this is one you would think we should be able to be really high on, because there’s a lot of avenues to meet this.”
Ibach said her team plans to start offering the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery “to as many (RHS) students as possible” in an effort to help increase the district’s post-secondary readiness score.
District staff members said they have also been offering the ACT Work Keys test to more students who don’t perform as well on the ACT.
For more information, call FCSD 25 at (307) 856-9407.