Summary
Parmalee Elementary School is a K–5 school in Indian Hills, Colorado, serving 278 students as part of Jefferson County School District No. R-1. It is one of the highest-performing elementary schools in the state, earning a 5-star rating every year for the past decade and ranking #16 out of 943 Colorado elementary schools (98th percentile) in 2025–2026, after ranking #9 the prior year. Students vastly outperform district and state averages on every subject: 87.7% proficiency in ELA, 78.9% in math, and 74.4% in science, compared with district rates of 53.7%, 44.6%, and 46.2%, respectively.
Some of the most striking results come from individual grade levels. Fourth-grade ELA proficiency is an extraordinary 95.9%, and fourth-grade math reaches 86.0%. Even the school's lowest grade-subject combination, third-grade math at 67.3%, exceeds the district average by nearly 20 points. Parmalee is particularly effective with boys, who rank #11 statewide, while girls rank #27. The one notable gap: Gifted and Talented students rank only in the 54th percentile among comparable schools, a striking contrast with the school's overall excellence. Science scores have also been somewhat volatile, ranging from 68% to 83% over the past three years, though they remain far above state averages.
Parmalee serves a relatively modest-income population for the area, with 11.5% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch — higher than nearby Ralston Elementary School at 3.1%, but lower than several other neighbors. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 16.1% is well below the district average of 26.6%, though it rose from 12.7% the prior year and is more than double the rate at Ralston (7.2%). Despite those headwinds, Parmalee outperforms Ralston, its closest academic peer, by 7.6 points in ELA and 5.3 points in math. For families in the Indian Hills, Golden, and Evergreen area, Parmalee represents one of the strongest elementary options in the entire state.
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