Meet the married couple steering Ten Sleep School to top academic marks

TEN SLEEP—On a rainy Thursday in September, English teacher Jessica Jackson stood in a second-floor classroom talking with a handful of high school students about gothic literature. The topic was timely, given the season and weather. 

Jackson’s students were writing an original horror story for an ongoing project. The class discussed the nuances between horror and thriller genres, the works of Edgar Allan Poe and elements of gothic fiction like supernatural forces. Conversation ranged from historical context to Hitchcock films to the antiheroes of comic books.

Students were engaged but casual. They did not give the impression of educational automatons being drilled for the sole purpose of scoring high on standardized tests. 

And yet, testing excellence is one thing they do. Ten Sleep K-12 School topped the state in the latest Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress scores, earning the highest proficiency in all three content areas tested — for the second year running, and by notable margins. 

Ten Sleep’s proficiency scores of 77% in English language arts, 81% in math and 84% in science were well above statewide averages of 56%, 51% and 51%, respectively.

So, what’s the secret to their success? 

There isn’t one silver bullet, school officials say. But to understand the dynamic factors, head to the administrative offices. Annie Griffin occupies the desk of Washakie County District 2 superintendent, while her husband, Robert Griffin, is the school’s principal. 

Having a married couple helm a school’s administration isn’t ideal in every situation, and it could even lead to disaster. But the Griffins share a cohesive vision and decades of experience, from classroom teaching to implementing education policy. 

In Ten Sleep, their goal is to provide truly individualized education — something arguably more achievable in this tiny school, which serves just 108 pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade. A class size of around 10 per grade makes it an environment where staff can assess every kid and tailor to his or her needs, the Griffins say. 

But success also entails reframing the whole idea of teaching, so that it’s less about what the teacher taught and more about what the students learned. Once educators make that fundamental switch, Annie Griffin said, teaching to mastery becomes more attainable. Not that it’s easy. 

The difference is in “not giving up until that student masters it,” she said. 

The Griffins have also worked to nurture Ten Sleep’s long-running academic pride. They want students and staff to embrace and celebrate academic excellence just as much as school communities do when a sports team wins a state championship. 

After all, Robert Griffin said, “this might be the best form of a state championship to win.” 

Data dive

The current picture of academic testing scores in America isn’t exactly bright. 

The latest results of the National Assessment for Educational Progress, known as The Nation’s Report Card, showed discouraging declines in math, reading and science scores and alarming increases in students who lack basic skills. 

Even in Wyoming, where students consistently outperform their peers in other states, scores are still recovering from a pandemic-era slump. Wyoming student performance in the 2024-25 WY-TOPP test areas increased by 1-3% over the previous year. But statewide proficiency remains around 50%-55% — far behind Ten Sleep scores.  

The Griffins came to Ten Sleep in 2022 from Ranchester, where Annie Griffin had been principal of Tongue River Elementary School. Tongue River was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2021, a designation of excellence. 

It was a tricky time to start — plans for a new Ten Sleep school building were at 65% completion, they said, and much of the secondary school staff had recently exited.  

That presented challenges and opportunities. On one hand, it was a bit of a blank canvas, allowing them leeway without the resistance to change that can exist when things have been done a certain way for a long time. 

“We were fortunate enough to walk into kind of a clean slate, and establish our culture from the moment that we got here, both with students and with staff,” Robert Griffin said. 

“It was a lot of listening, to start,” Annie Griffin added. 

Ten Sleep already had a solid foundation of academic success, Robert Griffin said. The district consistently scored high compared to peers, particularly in ACT testing. 

The Griffins didn’t settle for the status quo, however. The first thing Robert Griffin did as principal was dive into numbers. 

“I went into the data for each student,” he said. “So for every single student, I had an understanding where their proficiencies were. So that kind of pinpoints where you need some medicine, if you will, academically.”

That allowed the Griffins to identify areas for instruction improvement — in this case, focusing on reading and writing, particularly in the lower levels. They began working with staff to execute those changes using evidence-based approaches. 

Thirsty to learn 

Teachers’ openness and adaptability were crucial, Robert Griffin said. 

“Their willingness and desire to perform at a higher standard, I would highlight it as the key feature,” he said. “They wanted to be better. That scenario led us to having a tremendous opportunity to grow students academically.”

For teachers, making sure every student has mastery of a concept takes time and patience. It can be slow and tedious. Going back to fill gaps in foundations is hard work. But it makes a world of difference, Annie Griffin said. 

While not all Wyoming districts enjoy the benefits associated with small class sizes, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder said Washakie County School District 2 illustrates how a commitment to improvement yields results.

“I am proud of their work and hope that other districts will seek to learn more about how they continue to perform at the highest level in the state,” Degenfelder said.

The Griffins lead by example, said the school’s business manager Rachel Casteel. They are approachable, fair, supportive and work to create a positive environment.

“They care about all of the children, and they care about every single one of the employees that they have here,” Casteel said. 

Those attributes trickle down, she said, and contribute to the kind of organizational pride that motivates both teachers and students to do their best.  

Different paths to education

The Griffins are both products of Wyoming schools. They grew up in Glenrock, where they knew one another but were in different grades. They started dating shortly after high school graduation, and got married at the ages of 18 and 19. 

Annie knew her destiny in about third grade. “I knew from the beginning that I was going to be a teacher,” she said. 

Robert, meanwhile, never entertained the idea of teaching. While she went to college to be a teacher, he served in the military and then pursued a career as a physical therapist. Around that time, he started coaching kids’ sports. He loved it. 

“And then that kind of opened my eyes to the possibility of a profession where you have that experience of working with kids and growing kids,” he said. 

They were classroom teachers for many years, learning from mentors and experiences. Teaching for more than a decade in Colorado schools with less per-pupil funding, for example, taught them how to stretch resources.

“But we also knew what Wyoming had to offer, and so we brought our children back,” Robert Griffin said. They relocated to Sheridan County School District 1 when their twin daughters were 3 years old. They stayed for 13 years, Robert working as a classroom teacher and Annie as principal. 

When they saw openings for both principal and superintendent in Ten Sleep, they said, it seemed like a good next step. 

Celebrating 

Construction is still ongoing at the school site, but teachers and classes have moved into the new building, which features updated classrooms and a central assembly space. 

Inside the school that rainy September day, kids and teachers donned pajamas as part of homecoming festivities. 

Ten Sleep School is into celebrating, the Griffins said. They celebrate student growth in performance, academic achievement, sports, project-based learning and career and technical programs. They celebrate when teachers make a difference in a kid’s lives. 

Celebrations, Annie Griffin said, allow them to say, “look what you can do when you just do your best, and look what we can do together.”