The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in English language arts. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cottonwood Elementary
Cottonwood Elementary sits in Wright, a small coal-mining town in Campbell County, Wyoming, and serves children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of Campbell County School District #1. It is a neighborhood public school in the most literal sense: the town is compact, and civic and educational functions are woven into the residential fabric rather than separated on distant campuses. The school shares its community with Wright Junior/Senior High School, which picks up at seventh grade, so Cottonwood is the first stop and the only elementary option in town.
Wright exists because of coal. The town was built to serve the Black Thunder Coal Mine and others in the Powder River Basin, and publicly reported accounts describe the majority of residents as still employed by the surrounding mines. Oil and gas reserves ring the town as well. This is a place where the energy economy is not an abstraction; it is the reason most families are here. The town's own website describes a vision of a safe, family-oriented community with a strong energy-based economy and quality education. Two new shopping centers have been built recently, though publicly reported sources note they have struggled to find staff because housing is so scarce. The town has been working on a substantial infrastructure project to develop dozens of lots for single-family and multi-family housing, and as of mid-2024 there were reportedly no rental units available at all.
For a family looking at housing near Cottonwood, the market is unusual. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below both the Wyoming state benchmark and the national benchmark, and the year-over-year trend has been declining rather than rising. That sounds like affordability, and by the headline number it is. But the deeper story from the town itself is that the shortage is about supply, not price. There is little to rent and limited stock to buy. A family relocating here for mine work may find a reasonably priced house but should expect a thin market with few options. Personal vehicles are the primary mode of transport; no public transit system was referenced in available sources.
Cottonwood is a small school, with an enrollment that is modest even for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a handful of students from other racial or 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 reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here. A parent who wants to understand special education or language-support services would need to ask the school directly.
Academic results from the most recent state assessment cycle tell a mixed story. In math, third and fifth graders showed roughly half their students reaching proficiency, which is a solid mark for a small school. Fourth grade was a step below that. Sixth-grade math proficiency dropped sharply, with only about a quarter of tested students reaching the proficient bar. That is the kind of number a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly if their child is approaching those upper elementary grades. In English language arts, the pattern is similar but less severe at the top end: fifth grade was the strongest, with more than half proficient, and sixth grade landed at about half. Third and fourth grade ELA results were lower. Science, tested only in fourth grade, came in below where most schools would want to be, with roughly a quarter of students proficient. Participation was full across every tested grade and subject, which means these results reflect the whole cohort rather than a partial sample.
Because Cottonwood is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report; that measure belongs to the secondary level. The neighbor comparison, which positions this entity relative to districts in Campbell County, could not produce proficiency, graduation, or chronic-absenteeism comparisons. The county cohort is small, and several values were missing, so there is no benchmark to set Cottonwood against its peers in the data provided. Program offerings, course access, discipline, staffing, and attendance details were also not available. The district brief turned up no recent changes meeting a lasting-impact threshold for families. Gaps of this kind often reflect a small, rural school with limited reporting depth rather than a quiet problem, but they do mean a family will need to go to the school and district for information on interventions, gifted services, extracurriculars, and classroom support.
What a family gets at Cottonwood is a small elementary school in a tight-knit energy town, with solid marks in the middle elementary grades, a noticeable dip in upper elementary math, and a community that is actively trying to solve a housing crunch that has held back growth. It fits families who want a small-town environment and who are comfortable asking direct questions about the grades where the data softens.
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