Henderson Elementary, Cheyenne WY

Original Research by School Decision on Henderson Elementary

Henderson Elementary sits on Henderson Drive in Cheyenne, serving kindergarten through sixth grade as part of Laramie County School District #1. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic share and small representation from other groups. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special education populations was not reported, so those figures are unavailable here.

Cheyenne itself is Wyoming's capital and largest city, a place shaped by its railroad-town origins and its continuing role as a government, military, and transportation hub. Francis E. Warren Air Force Base sits on the west side, and the state capitol anchors a historic downtown core with buildings dating to the nineteenth century. The city is largely automobile-oriented and spread out, with suburban-style development outside downtown. Emerging data-center and renewable-energy activity points to some economic diversification beyond the traditional government and military base. The annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo is a defining civic event. Housing in the school's zip code is moderately priced relative to national benchmarks, with home values somewhat below the state and national medians. Rents are modest, and renting takes up a smaller share of income than buying at current mortgage rates. For families considering the area, housing costs are manageable compared with many Western cities, though buying requires absorbing current elevated borrowing rates.

On state assessments, Henderson's results paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency strengthens as students move up the grades, with the upper elementary grades showing nearly half of tested students meeting or exceeding proficiency. Math tells a softer story, with proficiency rates generally lower and the sixth-grade cohort in particular showing fewer students reaching proficiency. Science, tested in fourth grade, falls in a middle range. Every tested grade reported full participation, which speaks to consistent assessment engagement. Trend data comparing year-over-year changes was not available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around math instruction in the upper grades.

Placed relative to districts in Laramie County, Henderson's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands in the bottom quartile. This is a fact worth sitting with. It does not define everything about a school, but it is a real signal about where students stand on state benchmarks compared with peers in neighboring districts. The comparison set here is limited to county districts, and Henderson is a single school within a larger district, so the positioning reflects how its tested outcomes compare to district-level results across the county rather than a school-to-school match. Graduation rates and chronic absenteeism data do not apply to Henderson because it is an elementary school serving only through sixth grade.

The district brief for Laramie County School District #1 turned up little in the way of publicly reported recent changes of lasting impact, so there is nothing specific to relay about new programs, boundary shifts, or leadership transitions. Program offerings, course access, staffing details, discipline data, and attendance information for Henderson were not available in the provided material, so those gaps are named rather than filled.

What a family gets at Henderson is a small-to-mid-sized elementary school in Wyoming's capital city, with a student population that reflects a mix of backgrounds and a community where housing remains relatively approachable. The school's reading results in the upper grades are a genuine bright spot. Its math results, and its standing relative to county peers, are areas a prospective parent would reasonably want to understand better before enrolling. The data here gives a starting point for that conversation.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 54% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 47% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 45% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 51% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 51% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 49% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 49% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 58% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Science

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 50% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolLaramie County School District #1, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income25%Higher-income57%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income60%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income50%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income38%Higher-income61%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income25%Higher-income57%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income55%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income43%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income33%14 pp gap