Ten Sleep tops in small schools with WY-TOPP

Results are in for the spring 2024 WY-TOPP (Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress) standardized test, and Ten Sleep School has a lot to celebrate.

WY-TOPP is an annual standardized test taken by students in every school district in Wyoming, used to gauge students’ growth and proficiency in the areas of math, English language arts (ELA) and science. Grades 3 through 10 are tested in math and ELA, and grades 4, 8 and 10 are additionally tested in science. Based on performance, scores are categorized either below proficient, proficient or advanced.

According to the Wyoming Department of Education’s assessment data, statewide average percentages for proficient and advanced students the 2024 WY-TOPP assessment are: 49.5% in math, 53.4% in ELA and 48% in science.

In a live broadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 9, Wyoming State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder and the Wyoming Department of Education announced the top-performing schools in the 2024 WY-TOPP assessment.

As the students of Ten Sleep School were gathered in the gym watching the broadcast, it started with the small school category; their school was the first to be recognized, the top-performing small school in the state of Wyoming. The crowd of students cheered as the broadcast was handed over to Washakie County School District No. 2 Superintendent Annie Griffin, who spoke about her school’s accomplishment, thanking her students and staff for their hard work and sending them off with a chant of “Go Big Blue!”

It’s one thing to be announced with the overall title of a top performing small school in Wyoming, but the breakdown of results provided by Griffin is where the achievement becomes truly remarkable. Compared to state averages, where about half of students testing proficient or advanced is the norm, Ten Sleep School blew past expectations; of Ten Sleep students assessed, 76.1% scored proficient or advanced in math, 83.1% did so in ELA and incredibly, 100% did so in science.

In a response provided by Griffin to Northern Wyoming News following the

announcement, she spoke about how significant this is for her school in the small town of Ten Sleep, saying, “We are too small for a National Blue Ribbon and don’t qualify for many of the awards other schools can qualify for because of our small numbers; for a small school district like ours, we just essentially won the biggest award we can.”

Despite Ten Sleep’s small size, this is an unprecedented set of achievements for a school of any size, and according to the data, represents growth by double digit percentage in all categories compared to their own results from the previous year.

“Forty-three percent of all our tests taken scored in the advanced category. Not only are our students achieving proficiency, a large percentage are scoring in the advanced category,” added Griffin.

She remarked on the accomplishments of her students, saying, “I have been in education for 26 years and have never witnessed this kind of overall achievement. I have seen schools have great growth and be really high in a grade level or two, or an area or two, but never in all three areas overall.”

“This is an academic milestone for Ten Sleep Schools and shows the state as a whole that we are doing what it takes to ensure every child ‘learns to live their dreams’ at Ten Sleep Schools,” added Griffin.

Superintendent Griffin and her husband, Principal Robert Griffin, entered their roles at the Ten Sleep School in the fall of 2022. According to data from the Wyoming Department of Education, the results of the spring 2022 WY-TOPP assessment prior to their hiring put Ten Sleep close to the state average scores, with some outlier classes performing well above it in ELA, eighth graders doing well in science and fifth and sixth-graders doing well in math.

The following two years show enormous growth in nearly every grade in each of the three categories, culminating in their achievements on the 2024 test.

Annie Griffin commented on the rapid change, saying, “First there had to be a shift in the overall culture; the secondary staff had almost fully turned over the spring before Mr. Griffin and I came in. Pioneer Pride and finding students doing the right things became a cultural focus. We want our teachers to feel supported in meeting the needs of each child but we also want them to feel valued, and at the district level we make decisions that support both our students and our staff when it comes to our budget and what we celebrate. Our instructional focus over the past two years has been to shift the focus to the learner, to understand what they know through formative and summative assessments and take them to the next level through the collaborative PLC (Professional Learning Community) process.”

She added, “With our students we focused on growth. We talked about WY-TOPP being a place where you can really shine and at the end of the first year. Mr. Griffin held an assembly celebrating individual students based on how much they grew. Kids stood and were cheered based on their academic growth. The level of pride was palpable in the gym that day. Sometimes small incentives like your peers seeing you be recognized for your growth can reap amazing benefits. We believe a focus on growing from where you started is where we should place focus.  In addition, each teacher at Ten Sleep Schools knows their students’ strengths and weaknesses. Because of our small class sizes they can tackle each of them and motivate them to grow.”

Annie Griffin also commented on her and Robert’s unusual position as a husband-wife administrative duo, believing that it offered their district unique advantages. She said, “Traditionally, the superintendent and the principal have to spend a lot of time building an understanding and shared vision for the district they are leading ... In our case, we had the shared experience of being Wyoming high school graduates, teaching in Colorado, as well as being both a teacher and a leader in the same district in Ranchester. We have a strong understanding of what instruction should look like as well as the collaborative process. As we came in and began to assess strengths and needs at Ten Sleep Schools we were able to hit the ground running and team up to support our staff and students. My instructional strength is in the elementary and middle school area and Mr. Griffin is strong in the middle and high school areas. We figured out how to use those strengths to support where we are needed. There are clear roles — for instance, he is the evaluator for the teachers, and I am responsible for the district as a whole, but I do some instructional coaching and support new staff as well as elementary staff. Not having to worry about stepping on each other’s toes and being supporters of each other as husband and wife has made leading fairly seamless … We have both been a part of positive educational experiences and we knew we wanted nothing but the best for Ten Sleep Schools.”

Coming off of the news of this achievement, Annie Griffin thinks that there’s still room to improve with the extra opportunities that will be afforded as staff collaborative efforts continue and the school moves into a new building next semester.

“There is always room for growth. We have a big Project Based Learning Initiative happening in our school. In the coming years we will utilize the new building in the way it was intended, which is to approach learning and teaching in a variety of ways. The outdoor spaces, open concept, garage doors and learning stairs are just a couple of the features that support the unique learning paths of our students. Just because a district is small it does not mean we are not capable of providing an education equal to that of a big school. Because of our small intimate setting and our ability to meet every child’s individual needs we have the ability to be innovative in our practices. Ten Sleep is a unique environment and community with so much to offer its students. We have to continue to build on the pride of our community and the resources near us to light the way for both university and trades. We have to continue to build pathways of mutual respect with our community and families. We will continue to grow as these partnerships get better,” she said.

Ten Sleep School will host a celebration to recognize their accomplishments on the 2024 WY-TOPP assessment at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 in the school’s gym. As a reward for their hard work, students have been granted early releases on Oct. 17 and Nov. 26.

Annie Griffin said, “Our community needs to bask in this win, as it speaks to the quality of education we are able to provide in our public school. It speaks to the quality of our students, staff and school board. As we say, Go BIG Blue as the sky’s

the limit.”