This is not just a lofty goal but our mandate under state law. The Wyoming Department of Education requires schools to prepare a student to enter the University of Wyoming,

How are we doing?

Our school district must accomplish Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks for student achievement, established by the federal No Child Left Behind law. We track our progress in meeting that AYP goal through assessments and testing, including the PAWS test (Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students), developed by the Wyoming Department of Education.

To ensure that FCSD1 meets and exceeds the AYP goals, the Board of Trustees has launched an Excellence Initiative with the primary goal of supporting each student in achieving high performance, without exception.

The effort begins with the philosophy and vision of the district and it is furthered by a set of goals established by the school board.

Locally, much has already been accomplished in FCSD1’s drive to excellence, from increasing staff salaries to implementing the Hathaway Success Curriculum. We believe that college begins in kindergarten, and that is the starting point for all that we do.

In order for all of our kids to achieve high performance and to close the achievement gap, we require accountability from everyone in the district, including administrators, teachers and support staff. Everyone. As Governor Freudenthal said in his state of the state remarks, we have the resources. There can be no excuses.

FCSD1’s curriculum is expansive, in that is it both classic and forward thinking. We concentrate on the basics and we support our staff with the best technology available. Our curriculum is designed to create life-long learners, as education continues well beyond the walls of our school buildings.

The Excellence Initiative requires us to make decisions based on what is best for kids—decisions based on results, not emotions. Test results show that we need to increase students’ reading and writing skills, and that is a current focus. Based on frequent assessments, our goal is to facilitate continuous improvement in student achievement.

We firmly believe that the community plays a key role in helping the schools create the knowledge, skills and personal characteristics for our students to be 21st century citizens. That is why this Excellence Initiative seeks to integrate the community into our work.

Before each school board meeting, a listening session is scheduled on a topic of importance, and the public is encouraged to attend and provide input. We encourage all parents to become involved in their schools, and we invite the community to ask our kids how they are doing in school and to participate in school activities and events.

We will do a better job communicating with the community, as well, through more frequent media appearances, a speakers’ bureau and an updated Web site. These are your schools; you should know what is occurring in them.

The bottom line is that we want to be accountable.  hat might success look like under this Excellence Initiative? Here’s a glimpse:

AYP will be an afterthought; we’ll be talking about the numbers of grads and the colleges they attend; lots of our students will become Hathaway Scholars; and patrons’ emails will include comments about academics, not coaching decisions. Additionally, when the State Department of Education reports come out, we’ll be in the top percentiles. We will also continue to promote professional development within the district and continue to explore effective ways to better educate our kids.

“I’m confident we are moving in the right direction with the implementation of this Excellence Initiative,” said Superintendent Paige Fenton Hughes. “We can’t back away from our ethical and moral responsibility to educate every single child to a high level.”

How Are We Doing?

Return to the Excellence
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ACT scores and
College Preparation

PAWS 2007 Test
Scores Analysis

FCSD1 Action Steps

“Whether it is test scores or
matriculation or dropout rate,
we are in a position where the
only ‘A’ we get on the report
card is for funding. And after
that it drops off, and it drops
off dramatically…”
— Wyo Governor Dave Freudenthal,
State of the State
speech, Jan. 14, 2009