Wagonwheel Elementary, Gillette WY

Original Research by School Decision on Wagonwheel Elementary

Wagonwheel Elementary sits on Hemlock Street in Gillette, Wyoming, serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of Campbell County School District #1. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is small for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic presence and very small numbers of other racial and ethnic groups. Nearly half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.

On state assessments through the WY-TOPP test in the most recent school year, Wagonwheel posted strong results across the board, with a pattern that stands out. Math proficiency rises steadily from third grade through sixth grade, reaching a very high level by the final elementary year. English language arts follows a similar arc, with third grade the relative soft spot and sixth grade the clear peak. Science was tested only in fourth grade, where proficiency was solid. Every tested grade had full participation. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is unclear whether these results reflect steady performance or recent improvement, but the current snapshot is a genuinely strong one, particularly in the upper grades.

The neighborhood comparison set, drawn from districts in Campbell County, was too small to support meaningful proficiency, graduation, or attendance comparisons. Campbell County has only a few districts, so the cohort did not yield a useful relative positioning. This is a limitation of the available comparison pool rather than a reflection on the school itself. Graduation rates do not apply to Wagonwheel because it is an elementary school, and chronic absenteeism data was not reported.

Gillette is the county seat and one of Wyoming's larger cities, self-styled as the Energy Capital of the Nation for its position in the Powder River Basin amid coal, oil, and coalbed methane development. The town grew rapidly during fossil-fuel booms and remains a regional center for health care, education, and media. It is a car-oriented Western city with limited walkability, though a downtown core around the Campbell County Courthouse and scattered civic and cultural anchors like the CAM-PLEX event center and the Campbell County Public Library provide gathering points. Local officials have publicly noted that declining coal use nationally has affected the economy, and diversification efforts are underway, though no specific new industry directions have taken clear shape.

The housing market around Wagonwheel reflects that broader context. Home values in the school's zip code sit below both the Wyoming state benchmark and the national one, and they have declined over the past year while state and national values have held roughly flat or ticked upward. Rents are modest relative to income, and the estimated mortgage payment for a typical home is higher than the typical rent, which makes buying less straightforward than renting for many families. Median household income has been trending upward nationally, and unemployment sits at a moderate level.

Beyond academics, the data thins out. No information was available on program offerings, staffing ratios, discipline, attendance, Title I status, or course access. The district brief search turned up no specific recent changes in Campbell County School District #1 that would meet a lasting-impact threshold for families. A parent weighing Wagonwheel against other options would want to ask the school directly about special education services, English learner support, enrichment and intervention programs, and how the upper elementary grades prepare students for the transition to middle school, since none of that appears in the available data.

What the evidence does show is a small elementary school with a strong academic core, particularly in math, and results that build momentum through the grade levels. The community around it is an energy-dependent town navigating an economic transition, with affordable housing and a dispersed, car-centered way of life.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 56% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 63% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 52% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 56% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 50% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 49% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 564%

School 64% · District 53% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 58% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Science

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 55% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

This schoolCampbell County School District #1, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income58%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income75%22 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income85%35 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income84%Higher-income71%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income70%Higher-income53%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income73%Higher-income75%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income90%Higher-income71%19 pp gap