The Wyoming Statewide Assessment System consists of six assessments including ACCESS for ELLs, WIDA Alternate ACCESS, ACT, WorkKeys, WY-ALT, and WY-TOPP.
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reinforces the authority of states to decide which statewide assessments are the most appropriate for its students. Wyoming’s state assessment, the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP), assesses students on the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards. It is administered online and is a computer-adaptive assessment. This state summative assessment is an end-of-year test that measures how much students have learned during the school year in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science.
Wyoming’s Alternate Assessment (WY-ALT), for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, is aligned to the Wyoming Extended Standards for English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science. Approximately 1% of students participate in the WY-ALT.
Students in grades 3-10 take the WY-TOPP and WY-ALT assessments for Math and English Language Arts (ELA). Grade 3, 5, 7, and 9 students are also assessed in Writing on WY-TOPP. Students in grades 4, 8, and 10 are assessed in Science on WY-TOPP and WY-ALT.
WY-TOPP results are used to help evaluate a school’s strengths and weaknesses, and to produce a School Performance Rating. See an overview of the 2022-23 School Performance Ratings results here. Individual student results are provided to parents but have no direct effect on student grades.
The public is invited to experience a training test at wyoassessment.org, in the Students and Families section. The ELA and Math training tests contain assessment item types for grades 3–10. The ELA tests for grades 3, 6, and 9 also include sample listening questions. The Science training tests contain assessment items in each grade band (elementary, middle school, and high school). These training tests are designed to allow students to practice with the assessment platform and digital tools before the summative test.
2022-23 ASSESSMENT
Wyoming’s 2022-23 assessment results show slight increases in overall proficiency rates within each content area. Overall student proficiency rates increased in English Language Arts (ELA) by 0.5%, in Math by 0.7%, and in Science by 1% compared to 2021-22. However, proficiency rates in ELA in grades 4, 5, 7 and in Math in grades 4 and 9 declined slightly.
The WY-TOPP assessment began in 2017-18. In the spring of 2020, school districts received a waiver allowing them to forgo assessment, therefore no data was produced. Although the 2022-23 results show proficiency rate increases in all three content areas, they remain slightly below pre-pandemic levels, ranging from 1-2% below the 2018-19 scores.
Understanding Your Results
Assessment results are released each fall. Upon release, school districts will send each student’s Individual Score Report (ISR) to parents/guardians. This report explains the results and identifies next steps for parents/guardians to continue supporting the learning efforts of their child.
Cut Scores
Cut scores are specific scores that represent the overall knowledge a student showed based upon the answers provided on the test. Each performance level – Basic, Proficient, and Advanced includes a range of test scores that apply. These definitions are based on the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards and Performance Level Descriptors for the WY-TOPP tests and on Wyoming Extended Standards and Achievement Level Descriptors for the WY-ALT tests. Educators and parents can utilize the tables below in conjunction with the scale score shown on a student score report (ISR) to understand how the student performed on the test in relation to the content expected to be taught in their enrolled grade level.
The WY-TOPP cut scores are not vertically scaled, meaning they are not on a common scale from grade to grade. Care should be taken when making comparisons between scores in different grade levels. Performance levels are a more accurate representation when making these between-grade comparisons.
WY-TOPP Proficiency-Level Scores
WY-ALT Proficiency-Level Scores
