The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 47% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lingle-ft. Laramie Elementary
Lingle-Ft. Laramie Elementary sits in the very small town of Lingle, in Goshen County, Wyoming, along the historic Oregon Trail corridor between Torrington and Fort Laramie. The town grew from the railroad and agriculture, and that rural, agricultural character still defines the place. Public education here is provided by Goshen County School District #1. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is located on 3rd Street, within easy walking distance of the high school and Town Hall. Lingle is compact, and its civic buildings cluster around Main Street and 3rd Street, so the school feels integrated into the town center rather than set apart on a distant campus.
The school is small for its grade band, and that smallness shapes much of the experience. Tested grade-level cohorts are tiny, which means a single child's result can move a proficiency rate considerably. With full participation across all tested grades, the school's most recent WY-TOPP results show a clear pattern: proficiency tends to be lower in third grade and stronger in fourth and fifth. In math, fourth and fifth graders performed well, with a clear majority reaching proficiency. ELA results followed a similar arc, with fourth grade the strongest and third grade the softest. Science was tested only in fourth grade, and results there were mixed, with fewer than half reaching proficiency. A parent looking at these results should keep in mind that small cohorts make year-to-year comparisons unstable, and the third-grade figures, while on the softer side, may reflect a handful of students rather than a systemic pattern. This is something worth asking the school about directly.
The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a very small share of students identifying as two or more races. A moderate portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.
Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric does not apply to this institution. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Multi-year trend data was also absent, so it is not possible to say from the provided information whether these proficiency levels are improving, declining, or holding steady over time. The neighbor comparison set was not informative here because Goshen County has only a small number of districts, making a meaningful peer comparison infeasible. We looked for recent district-level changes that might affect families, but found little of lasting impact reported, so that was left out rather than guessed at.
Lingle itself has been experiencing a modest population decline over recent census cycles, and no major housing developments or growth projects were identified in available sources. The housing market is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below both the Wyoming and national medians. The price-to-income ratio sits at a level that suggests homeownership is within reach for many local households compared with much of the country. Rental data was not available for this area. The broader economic context includes a national unemployment rate in a typical range and mortgage rates that have been holding in the mid-six-percent range. Historically, the local economy has been rooted in agriculture and the railroad, with the school district itself serving as a public-sector employer. Specific private employers beyond those sectors were not identified in available sources.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a small, rural elementary school embedded in a tight-knit agricultural community. The academic results are strongest in the upper elementary grades, participation in state testing is complete, and the setting offers a walkable, in-town school environment. The main questions a parent might pursue with the school involve the softer third-grade results, the lack of trend data to show direction over time, and the missing information on special populations. The community itself is quiet, affordable, and stable in its rural identity, though not growing.
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