The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in Math. The lowest is 57% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ralph Witters Elementary
Ralph Witters Elementary sits in Thermopolis, the county seat of Hot Springs County, Wyoming, and serves as the early-grades school within Hot Springs County School District #1. The building covers kindergarten through fourth grade, with pre-kindergarten listed in its official grade span but no pre-kindergarten students currently enrolled. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws from a town where civic life and schools are woven together rather than separated onto distant campuses. The district's other buildings, Thermopolis Middle School and Hot Springs County High School, sit nearby in town, which gives families a compact, walkable pathway from the early grades through graduation.
Thermopolis itself is a small Western town straddling US Route 20, known publicly for its mineral hot springs at Hot Springs State Park, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, and blue-ribbon trout fishing on the Big Horn River. Tourism, ranching, county government, and the local critical access hospital anchor the local economy. The town has seen long-term population decline since the mid-twentieth century, though publicly reported estimates show a slight recent uptick, and travel writing has noted downtown revitalization. Housing here is modestly priced relative to the state and nation, making homeownership comparatively attainable for families tied to the area.
On state assessments, Ralph Witters posts solid results for its grade band. Math stands out as the stronger subject, with a clear majority of third and fourth graders reaching proficiency, and fourth grade edging higher than third. English language arts results show a majority proficient as well, though at a somewhat lower level than math. Science, tested only in fourth grade, lands in a similar moderate range. Every tested student participated, which speaks to consistent assessment engagement. The state did not provide multi-year trend data for this school, so it is hard to say whether these results reflect steady performance or recent change. A parent wanting to understand the trajectory would do well to ask the school directly.
The student body is small and predominantly white, with smaller Hispanic and multiracial populations and a tiny number of American Indian or Alaska Native students. Just under half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives the school a mixed economic profile rather than a uniformly high-need population. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those figures are absent here. This does not necessarily mean those populations are absent from the school, only that the data was not available in the sources reviewed.
Because Ralph Witters is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric simply does not apply at this grade level. Course access, staffing, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism data were also not available in the provided materials. The comparison set used for this school draws on districts within Hot Springs County, but the county contains only one district, so no meaningful peer comparison could be computed. This is a limitation of the geography rather than a reflection on the school.
What the available evidence does show is a small-town elementary school with respectable academic outcomes in math, moderate ones in reading and science, full participation in state testing, and a student population that reflects the broader Thermopolis community. Families considering the area will find an affordable housing market, a town with natural and cultural amenities that punch above its size, and a school that sits at the front of a compact K-through-12 pathway all within the same community.
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