The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in English language arts. The lowest is 35% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Governor Samuel Wilder King Intermediate School
Governor Samuel Wilder King Intermediate School sits on Kamehameha Highway in Kāneʻohe, on the windward side of Oʻahu, serving students in grades seven and eight. It is a regular public school within the Hawaii Department of Education, the statewide district that operates all of Hawaii's public schools. The school draws from a community that is primarily residential, with commercial activity stretched along the highway corridor and Windward Mall serving as the main retail hub. Kāneʻohe evolved from a farming area, once producing taro, sweet potatoes, rice, and pineapple, into a suburban town where banana remains the only commercial crop of consequence. Marine Corps Base Hawaii sits across the southern end of Kāneʻohe Bay and shapes the local economy and population.
The school's enrollment is moderate for a two-grade intermediate school. Its student body reflects the windward Oʻahu community: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students form the largest group, with substantial shares of students identifying as two or more races and Hispanic. Smaller portions identify as Asian, White, or Black. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which gives a sense of the economic mix in the surrounding neighborhoods. Data on individualized education programs and English-learner status was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
On state assessments, King Intermediate shows a clear split between English language arts and mathematics. In ELA, the seventh-grade proficiency rate sits well above half, making it a relative strength for the school. The eighth-grade ELA rate drops but still represents a solid share of students meeting the standard. Mathematics tells a different story, with roughly a third of seventh graders and a similar share of eighth graders scoring proficient or above. Science, tested only in eighth grade under the Hawaii Science Assessment aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, lands in between, with close to half of tested students reaching proficiency. Participation rates across all tested subjects and grades are high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire student body rather than a self-selected subset. Only one year of data is available, so there is no trend to describe. A parent weighing the academic picture may want to look into the gap between strong ELA performance and weaker math results, and ask the school what supports are in place for students working below grade level in math.
Because King Intermediate serves only seventh and eighth graders, there is no graduation rate, no AP or dual-credit data, and no high school course catalog to report. Those metrics simply do not apply to this grade band. Information on Title I status, discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance was not available in the provided data, and the district brief for the Hawaii Department of Education did not surface any specific recent policy, curriculum, or facility changes that would affect this school.
The housing market in the 96744 zip code is expensive by any national standard, with typical home values well above the state benchmark and far above national figures. Rents have risen noticeably over the past year. For families considering a move into the King Intermediate attendance area, the cost of housing is a real factor, and renting remains somewhat more affordable month to month than buying, though neither path is inexpensive. Likelike Highway, Pali Highway, and Interstate H-3 connect Kāneʻohe to Honolulu over the Koʻolau Range, and the school's location on Kamehameha Highway places it along the town's main commercial spine.
What King Intermediate offers is a two-year intermediate experience in a windward Oʻahu community with strong ties to Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage and a mixed economic profile. Its students read and write at a level that outpaces their math performance, and the school sits in a town that is suburban, car-dependent, and rooted in its geography along Kāneʻohe Bay. Families looking at this school should weigh the ELA strength against the math results, and consider the broader context of a statewide district where school-level variation depends heavily on community and staffing.
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