The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in English language arts. The lowest is 67% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Thermopolis Middle School
Thermopolis Middle School sits in the county seat of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, serving students in grades five through eight as part of Hot Springs County School District #1. The town of Thermopolis blends tourism-driven commerce with residential life, built around the mineral hot springs at Hot Springs State Park, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, and outdoor recreation on the Big Horn River. It is a small, compact town straddling US Route 20, with a downtown historic district and a built environment of locally owned restaurants and shops along the main highway corridor. Schools and civic life are integrated into the town rather than separated on remote campuses, with Ralph Witters Elementary, Thermopolis Middle, Hot Springs County High School, and district offices all located in Thermopolis itself.
The middle school is a small school for its grade band, with an enrollment that fits the profile of a rural county-seat community. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller representations of Hispanic students, students of two or more races, and a few American Indian or Alaska Native and Black students. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not reported, so those population details are not available here.
Academic performance, based on the most recent WY-TOPP state assessment results, is a genuine strength at this school. In English language arts, proficiency rates are strong across all four grade levels, with seventh grade standing out as particularly high. Fifth, sixth, and eighth grades all show solid majorities of students reaching proficiency. In mathematics, the picture is similarly positive for seventh and eighth grade, with strong majorities proficient. Fifth grade math is also strong. Sixth grade math is the one relative soft spot, with a lower share of students reaching proficiency than the other grades. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, though a single grade-level cohort in a small school can fluctuate from year to year. Science was tested only in eighth grade, and results there were solid as well, with a clear majority proficient. Participation was full across every tested grade and subject.
Because the school serves only grades five through eight, there is no graduation rate to report, and that is expected for this grade band. No chronic absenteeism data was available for the school. The neighbor comparison set, which looks at proficiency among districts in Hot Springs County, was too small to produce a meaningful comparison, so the school is not positioned against neighboring districts on that basis. Trend data across multiple years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline over time.
Housing in the area is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. The typical home value in the school's zip code sits well below the Wyoming state benchmark and the national benchmark, and the price-to-income ratio is favorable. The town has experienced long-term population decline since the 1960s, with intermittent fluctuations and a slight uptick in the most recent estimate. Publicly reported sources note some revitalization in the downtown area in recent years, though no specific major new housing developments were identified. Key employers include the Critical Access Hospital, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, the school district, and local and county government.
Thermopolis Middle School fits a family looking for a small, community-rooted school with strong academic results in a rural Wyoming town where housing is affordable and outdoor recreation is close at hand. The absence of some demographic and program details means a family with specific questions about special education, English learner support, or gifted services would want to contact the school directly. The academic evidence that is available, though, paints a picture of a school where most students are meeting state standards across subjects and grades.
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