The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in Math. The lowest is 71% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Indian Paintbrush Elementary
Indian Paintbrush Elementary sits on the north side of Laramie, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Albany County School District #1. It is a conventional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for an elementary building covering six grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a sizable Hispanic presence and small numbers of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is relatively low compared with many Wyoming schools, which often correlates with the university-town demographics of Laramie. Information on individualized education program participation and English learner status was not available, so those pieces of the student support picture are absent here.
On state assessments, Indian Paintbrush posts strong results across the board. In math, the majority of third graders met or exceeded proficiency, fourth graders did even better, and fifth graders remained solidly above midpoint. English language arts results were a touch more varied, with third and fifth grade proficiency rates sitting comfortably above half and fourth grade dipping slightly below those two but still representing a majority of tested students meeting the bar. Science proficiency among fourth graders, the only elementary science grade reported, was also strong. Participation was essentially full across every tested grade and subject. These results paint a picture of a school where most students are reaching state expectations, with math as a particular area of strength and fourth-grade ELA the relatively softer spot, though still above what many schools achieve.
Because Indian Paintbrush serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report and no high school course access data. The state does not test kindergarten through second grade, so those grades have no proficiency results, which is standard rather than a gap. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Discipline, staffing, and attendance figures were also missing from the provided data, so a parent wanting to understand those dimensions would need to ask the school directly.
Laramie itself shapes what attending this school feels like. The city is built around the University of Wyoming, which dominates local employment and gives Laramie a college-town character unusual for Wyoming. Publicly reported sources describe a revitalized downtown with locally owned restaurants, shops, microbreweries, and public art set among historic buildings, all within a walkable core adjacent to the university campus. The Union Pacific Railroad, present since the city's founding, remains an employer and rail junction. Ivinson Memorial Hospital and county government provide other major employment. The city sits on a high plain between the Snowy Range to the west and the Laramie Range to the east, with the Laramie River running through town, making outdoor recreation a defining part of local life. Residential neighborhoods radiate outward from the downtown and campus core, and those farther out are more car-dependent. Indian Paintbrush on North 28th Street sits in one of those residential areas, north of the downtown and campus corridor.
Housing in the surrounding zip code is close to both the state and national benchmarks for typical home values, with year-over-year appreciation running modest. Rents sit below the estimated monthly mortgage cost for a typical buyer at current rates, which means renting is meaningfully cheaper than owning here, a dynamic some families will weigh. The broader Albany County housing market does not appear to be in a steep upswing or downturn based on the available figures.
The district brief for Albany County School District #1 did not surface any parent-relevant changes from recent years, so there is little to report on bonds, curriculum shifts, or strategic plan updates. The neighbor comparison set for Albany County includes only two districts, which is too small a cohort to generate a meaningful proficiency index ranking, so that comparison is not applied here.
What emerges is a profile of a smaller elementary school in a university town with solid academic outcomes, a student population that skews toward lower-poverty demographics, and a community defined by higher education, railroad heritage, and proximity to mountain recreation. A parent weighing Indian Paintbrush would find a school where most children are meeting state standards in core subjects, where the peer group reflects Laramie's college-town composition, and where the surrounding neighborhood offers typical homeownership costs alongside a walkable civic core a short drive to the south.
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