The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 42% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Carey Junior High School
Carey Junior High School sits in Cheyenne, Wyoming's capital city, serving seventh and eighth graders as part of Laramie County School District #1. It is a traditional public school, neither a charter nor a magnet, and its enrollment places it among the larger junior high campuses in the area. The school draws from a community that blends government employment, military presence tied to Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, and transportation roots stretching back to Cheyenne's founding as a Union Pacific junction. The city has a historic downtown core near the state capitol, but outside that core it is largely automobile-oriented and spread out in the way typical of Western cities.
The student body at Carey is predominantly white, with a sizable Hispanic population and small representation from other racial and ethnic groups. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here. For a parent wanting to understand the full peer environment, asking the school directly about special education and English-learner services would be a reasonable next step.
On state assessments through the WY-TOPP test in the most recent school year, Carey's results paint a mixed picture. English language arts is the stronger area. Seventh graders reached proficiency at a rate just above half, and eighth graders performed better still, with a clear majority meeting the state bar. Math results are softer. Seventh-grade math proficiency landed near the midpoint, while eighth-grade math dropped below that, with fewer than half of tested students reaching proficiency. Science, tested only in eighth grade, came in below half as well. Participation was strong across every subject and grade, with nearly all students taking the assessments.
When positioned against other districts in Laramie County, Carey's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of the county set. The comparison group is small, and the spread between the lowest and highest performers is narrow, so this placement reflects a modest gap rather than a dramatic one. Still, the school's combined proficiency across tested subjects and grades trails its county peers. A parent may want to look into what supports or interventions the school has in place for math and science specifically, since those are the areas where results are weakest.
Because Carey is a junior high serving only seventh and eighth grades, it has no graduation rate, and that absence reflects the grade band rather than any shortcoming. No chronic absenteeism data was reported for this school either, and no civil-rights or program-offering data was provided, so those dimensions cannot be assessed here. The same applies to discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance details, which were all missing from the available data. What we looked for on the district's recent parent-relevant changes turned up little, so we left that out rather than guess.
The housing market around the school is moderately priced for the region. Home values in the school's zip code sit slightly below the statewide benchmark and below the national one, and they have been appreciating at a healthy clip. Renting is notably more affordable than carrying a mortgage at current interest rates, by a margin that could matter to families weighing their options. The broader Cheyenne economy has seen emerging growth in data centers and renewable energy alongside its traditional government and military anchors, which may influence the area's trajectory over time.
What Carey offers is a large, conventional two-year junior high experience in a capital-city setting with steady housing costs and a community grounded in public-sector employment. Its English results are a clear strength. Its math and science results are the part of the record that warrants the closest attention from a family considering enrollment.
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