Midwest School, Midwest WY - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Midwest School

Midwest School is a single building serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in the town of Midwest, Wyoming, part of Natrona County School District #1. It is a small, rural school in a town rooted in the Salt Creek Oil Field, about forty miles north of Casper. The town grew from a tent city called Home Camp into an incorporated municipality with a quiet, residential character and a deep oil industry identity. Publicly reported sources describe a community that has been steadily losing population over several decades, with few commercial amenities and open Wyoming terrain as the main recreational draw. The Salt Creek Museum preserves the town's heritage, and the surrounding oil field operations remain the dominant economic feature. Midwest and neighboring Edgerton recently partnered to bring drinking water from the North Platte River, addressing a long-standing infrastructure concern.

The school's enrollment is small, spread across every grade from pre-kindergarten through senior year. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a few students identified as two or more races. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those portions of the school's support profile cannot be characterized here.

State testing through Wyoming's WY-TOPP assessment shows mixed results, but the context matters enormously. Several grade levels had only one or two students tested, and in those cases proficiency rates were not reported at all. Where results were reported, some grades showed roughly half of students reaching proficiency in math and English language arts, while others landed lower. A sixth-grade cohort showed weaker results in both subjects. Science proficiency was reported for eighth grade and came in low. Participation rates were strong where reported. Because the tested groups are so small, a single student's performance shifts the rate dramatically, making year-to-year comparisons unreliable and any one grade's result less predictive of what a family might encounter. Relative to districts in Natrona County, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits in the bottom quartile. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, keeping in mind the volatility that comes with tiny cohorts.

Graduation rate data for this school was not available in the provided records. Because the school serves high school grades, that gap is not explained by grade band, so families seeking graduation outcomes should ask the district directly. Chronic absenteeism figures were also missing. No course access, discipline, or staffing data was provided.

Housing in Midwest is very inexpensive compared with both state and national benchmarks, with typical home values far below what most Wyoming communities see. Values have been declining recently, which tracks with the town's long-term population loss rather than any single market disruption. Rent data was not available. The affordability picture means a family could own a home here for far less than in Casper or most of the state, though the tradeoff is limited local commerce and services.

At the district level, Natrona County School District #1 has approved a facilities master plan publicly reported as "Reimagining the Future of NCSD." The plan includes school consolidations, construction of a new elementary school, and repurposing of older buildings to address declining enrollment and aging infrastructure across the county. How these changes affect Midwest School specifically was not detailed in the available information, so families should check with the district about any implications for this campus.

What Midwest School offers is a genuinely small, all-grade school in a remote, oil-heritage town with affordable housing and a tight-knit rural setting. Academic data exists but is hard to interpret given extremely small tested groups. Families considering the school would benefit from direct conversations with staff about instruction, support services, and how the district's facilities plan may shape the school's future.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

60-79%Cohort of 16 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

89 schools plotted. 4 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 60% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 39% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 41% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 43% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 54% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 52% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 52% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 57% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Science

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 46% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median

This schoolNatrona 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.