Local PAWS Scores Drop

The State Board of Education warned the results of the Proficiency Assessment of Wyoming Students (PAWS) tests were going to be disappointing, and they were right.

Statewide, the best showings for math, science and reading were in the early grade levels. Anywhere from 50 percent to almost 70 percent of third- through seventh-graders were consistently rated "proficient" and "advanced" in those three disciplines.

Things start to slide in the eighth grade with less than half scoring "proficient" or "advanced" in math and science.

By the 11th grade, though, it all goes south.

Statewide, only 39 percent were "proficient" or "advanced" in math, 33 percent in reading and 31 percent in science.

In Natrona County, those numbers were 29 percent, 28 percent and 26 percent respectively.

Natrona County High School had better scores in all three than Kelly Walsh High School. KWHS's scores all ranged in the mid- to high-20th percentile.

But neither school matched the state average in math.

NCHS barely equaled the state averages in reading and science.

District Curriculum Director Kelly Hornby says they expected the scores to be lower because the Common Core curriculum is tougher.

Hornby said the new curriculum will challenge students more, and ultimately make coursework more applicable to the career fields they want to enter.