The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in English language arts. The lowest is 40% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Twin Spruce Junior High School
Twin Spruce Junior High sits in Gillette, the county seat of Campbell County and a city that has long called itself the Energy Capital of the Nation. The school serves seventh and eighth graders and is part of Campbell County School District #1, a system that runs two high schools and a distributed set of campuses across this car-oriented Western city. For a family trying to understand what the junior high years look like here, the picture is shaped by a community in economic transition, a student body that is large for its two-grade band, and state test results that show real strength in reading alongside softer performance in math and science.
Gillette grew rapidly during the fossil fuel boom, with coal mining in the Powder River Basin, oil, and coalbed methane driving expansion. Publicly reported information notes that the city's population surged over recent census cycles as the energy industry expanded. That boom-era character is still visible in the built environment, which is spread out and designed around automobile access. A downtown core anchors civic life with the Campbell County Courthouse and local businesses, but daily errands and school commutes generally require a car. The Donkey Creek Festival and events at the CAM-PLEX event center bring the community together at intervals rather than through sustained street-level activity. Major employers include coal operations like the Eagle Butte Mine, Campbell County Health and its memorial hospital, the school district itself, Gillette College, and city government. The decline in coal use nationally has affected the local economy, and local officials are publicly reported to be seeking other industries to diversify the base. That context matters for families because it shapes the tax base, the employment picture parents navigate, and the long-term trajectory of the community.
The housing market reflects this shifting ground. Home values in the school's zip code sit below both the Wyoming state benchmark and the national one, and recent year-over-year values have declined. Rents remain modest relative to income, and buying is more of a stretch than renting at current mortgage rates. For families considering a move, housing here is relatively affordable compared with much of the country, though the softening trend is worth watching if home equity matters to a family's financial planning.
At Twin Spruce itself, enrollment is substantial for a two-grade school, with roughly equal numbers in each grade. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic or Latino population forming the next largest group and small numbers of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those population sizes are unknown here. A parent with questions about special education services or language support would want to ask the school directly.
On Wyoming's WY-TOPP assessment, the most recent results paint a mixed but readable picture. English language arts is the school's clear strength. Both seventh and eighth graders showed proficiency rates well above half, with nearly identical results across the two grades. That consistency suggests a stable reading and writing program rather than a one-year spike. Math results are softer, with fewer than half of students reaching proficiency in either grade, though eighth grade edged slightly ahead of seventh. Science, tested only in eighth grade, was the lowest of the reported subjects, with a smaller share of students meeting the proficiency bar. Participation was near-universal across every subject and grade, which means these results reflect the whole school rather than a skewed subset of test-takers. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from the data whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady. A parent looking at the math and science results may want to ask the school what interventions or curricular adjustments are in place for students who are not yet proficient.
Because Twin Spruce serves only seventh and eighth graders, there is no graduation rate to report. The school also has no documented AP, dual-credit, or career-pathway offerings in the data provided, which is typical for a junior high but worth confirming if a family wants to know about accelerated options heading into high school. Students from Twin Spruce would move on to one of the district's two high schools, Campbell County High School or Thunder Basin High School.
The comparison set for this school relative to districts in Campbell County was too small to produce meaningful benchmarks, so the data does not position Twin Spruce against its neighbors in a useful way. Information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, and Title I status was not available. The district brief turned up no recent changes clearing a lasting-impact threshold for families, so there is nothing to report on that front.
What a family gets at Twin Spruce is a sizable, conventional junior high in an energy-town community navigating an economic pivot. Reading instruction appears to be working well for a majority of students. Math and science are areas where many students are still building toward proficiency, and the data does not yet show which direction those numbers are moving. The surrounding community is affordable but economically unsettled, car-dependent, and actively working to redefine itself beyond coal. For a family weighing this school, the academic question to pursue with staff is what supports exist for students below proficiency in math and science, and how the transition to high school builds on what Twin Spruce establishes.
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