Summary:
ZIP code 82420 has three schools in Cowley: Rocky Mountain Elementary (PK–5), Rocky Mountain Middle School (grades 6–8), and Rocky Mountain High School (grades 9–12), all part of Big Horn County School District #1. The clearest shared concern is math: results at all three schools are below the state benchmarks for the same grades, averaging 37.5% proficient compared with 55.0% statewide—a 17.5-point gap.
Rocky Mountain High School has the strongest overall state-relative results, averaging 10.8 percentage points below its benchmarks; its ELA results are closest, 5.6 points below the state average for the same grades. Rocky Mountain Elementary has the largest average shortfall, 16.8 points, with Rocky Mountain Middle School between them at 14.2 points below. Middle-school 7th-grade ELA is the closest individual result to the state benchmark (52.1% versus 56.5%); 8th-grade math is the farthest below (24.1% versus 53.9%). These profiles use different tested grades, so they are not direct comparisons of schools taking the same tests.
The latest results show widening gaps in ELA, math, and science compared with the prior year, although high-school ELA moved slightly closer to the state benchmark. SchoolDigger’s statewide rankings also fell over three years at the elementary school (21st to 8th percentile) and middle school (30th to 12th); the high school rose from 24th to 27th percentile in the latest year, but remains below its 2023–2024 ranking of 32. School characteristics differ too: student-teacher ratios range from 13.2:1 at the elementary school to 19.4:1 at the high school, while free/reduced-lunch eligibility ranges from 53.7% at the elementary school to 33.5% at the high school. These figures describe differences among the schools, not reasons for their results. The high school’s 2024–2025 graduation rate was 80.2%, below the state’s 83.1%.
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