The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Science. The lowest is 39% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Pilot Butte Elementary
Pilot Butte Elementary sits on Summit Drive in Rock Springs, serving grades four through six as part of Sweetwater County School District #1. It is a conventional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is moderate for a three-grade upper-elementary building. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic share and small representations of other groups. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which is below the threshold where concentrated poverty typically reshapes school climate. The school does not report IEP or English-learner counts, so families whose children receive special education or language services will want to ask the school directly about what is available.
On Wyoming's WY-TOPP assessment, the most recent results tell two different stories depending on the subject. In English language arts, proficiency holds steady and even edges upward as students move from fourth grade into sixth, with nearly half of sixth graders reaching proficiency. Math moves in the opposite direction. Fourth graders start with nearly half proficient, but by sixth grade the share drops to a much smaller group. Science was tested only in fourth grade, where nearly half reached proficiency. Participation was essentially universal across all tested grades, which means these results reflect nearly the entire student body. The overall proficiency index, which averages across tested subjects and grades, places this school in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Sweetwater County. That comparison set includes only two districts, so it is a narrow field, but the school sits below both. A parent may want to look into the sixth-grade math slide with the school, since it is the clearest pattern in the data.
Several data points are absent and worth naming. There is no chronic absenteeism figure, no discipline data, no staffing information, and no course-access detail. The school does not have a graduation rate because it does not serve high school grades. The school does not carry a Title I status in the data we received. These gaps mean a family cannot fully assess climate, attendance culture, or teacher load from the available information alone.
Rock Springs itself is a high-desert energy town with deep roots. Publicly reported sources describe it as the "Home of 56 Nationalities," a legacy of the immigrant mining workforce that came to work the Union Pacific coal mines. The local economy still runs on coal, oil, and natural gas, with the city positioned at the intersection of Interstate 80 and a major US highway that supports transportation and industrial activity. The built environment reflects that heritage: a historic downtown along South Main Street near the former Union Pacific depot, the Broadway Theater, a Carnegie Library that houses the Community Fine Arts Center with works by Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses, and Western Wyoming Community College. Outdoor recreation is close, with Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Killpecker Sand Dunes within reach. The city's population has been declining slightly in recent estimates, though the mayor's office has publicly described Rock Springs as positioned for growth driven by energy and manufacturing.
Housing in the school's zip code is affordable by Wyoming and national standards. Home values sit below the state benchmark, and rents are lower still. The price-to-income ratio is modest, and renting costs meaningfully less per month than carrying a mortgage at current rates. Home values have dipped slightly year over year, which reflects a soft local market rather than a hot one. For a family weighing relocation, the cost of living here is comparatively low.
What the data paints is an upper-elementary school where reading holds its own but math loses ground by sixth grade, in a town with industrial character, affordable housing, and a working-class heritage that still shapes daily life.
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