Verda James Elementary, Casper WY

Original Research by School Decision on Verda James Elementary

Verda James Elementary sits on Carriage Lane in Casper, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Natrona County School District #1. The school enrolls a moderately sized student body for an elementary in this area, with relatively even distribution across the six grade levels. The student population is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals is low relative to what many public elementary schools report, suggesting a generally more economically stable enrollment base. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those population details are not represented here.

On state testing, Verda James posts results that run from solid to strong across most grades and subjects, using Wyoming's WY-TOPP assessment. English language arts proficiency holds above the midpoint across third, fourth, and fifth grades, with fifth grade showing the strongest results. Math follows a similar pattern, with fifth grade again the highest-performing cohort. The one relative soft spot is fourth-grade math, where proficiency dips below half of tested students. Fourth-grade science also sits in a middling range. Participation rates are essentially full across all tested grades. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Natrona County, which is a genuinely strong standing for a neighborhood elementary. A parent weighing that fourth-grade math result may want to look into this further with the school, since the same cohort performs well in ELA and the adjacent grades show much higher math proficiency.

No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, or course-access data appears for Verda James, which is expected for an elementary school serving only the primary and intermediate grades. Those measures apply to secondary-level schools and are not reported here because the grade band does not include them.

Casper itself is the second-largest city in Wyoming and functions as a regional hub for banking, commerce, and the energy industry. Publicly reported sources describe it as historically an oil boomtown that retains energy-industry presence while depending mainly on a service economy. The built environment is sprawling and car-oriented, with Interstate 25 as the main artery. Civic and cultural amenities are distributed across separate campuses rather than concentrated downtown, including the Casper Recreation Center, municipal golf course, parks-and-trails system, the Nicolaysen Art Museum, and the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The Natrona County School District operates numerous elementary, middle, and high schools spread across the city, plus Casper College serves as the community college. Housing in the school's zip code sits below both the state and national benchmarks for typical home values, and rents are also modest relative to income, making the area comparatively affordable for families.

Families should be aware that the district is undergoing a facilities transition. The NCSD Board of Trustees approved a comprehensive master plan that includes school consolidations, construction of a new elementary school, and repurposing of older buildings to address declining enrollment and aging infrastructure. This could reshape attendance boundaries and school options across the district in the coming years, and Verda James families may want to follow those developments.

For a family seeking a neighborhood elementary with strong academic outcomes, a stable peer environment, and affordable housing in a regional center with practical amenities, Verda James presents a solid option. The main question worth asking the school is how it supports the fourth-grade math dip, since the surrounding grade-level data suggests the school is otherwise performing well.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 60% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 58% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 57% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 54% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 48% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 59% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 55% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income44%Higher-income71%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income60%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income85%49 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income77%44 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income50%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income87%52 pp gap