The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in English language arts. The lowest is 72% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Ka'ohao Public Charter School
Ka'ohao Public Charter School sits in Kailua, a residential town on Oahu's windward coast that grew from post-war suburban development and retains a tight-knit, beach-town character. The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade on a campus along Alala Road, set within a community whose commercial life centers on Kailua Road's shops and restaurants. Marine Corps Base Hawaii on the nearby Mokapu Peninsula is a major employer in the area, and tourism drives much of the local economy, though residents have pushed legislation to limit short-term rentals. The town's civic anchors include Kailua Beach Park, the vast Kawainui Marsh wetland with its hiking and biking trails, and the famously beautiful Lanikai Beach just down the road.
The school's enrollment is small for its grade band, with roughly even class sizes across kindergarten through sixth grade. Its student body skews heavily white, with a sizable portion identifying as two or more races and a smaller Hispanic contingent. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students make up a modest slice of the population. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals is quite low, pointing to a relatively affluent student base compared with many Hawaii public schools. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those population details are not available here.
Academically, Ka'ohao posts strong proficiency results across the tested grades on Hawaii's Smarter Balanced Assessment. In English language arts, third and sixth graders perform especially well, with the clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Fourth and fifth grade ELA results are solid though somewhat lower. Math results follow a similar pattern, with third graders posting the highest proficiency rate and the upper grades settling into a still-strong but more middling band. Fifth grade science, assessed through the Hawaii Science Assessment aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, shows most students meeting proficiency. Participation rates are consistently high across all tested grades and subjects. Only a single year of assessment data is available, so no trend over time can be drawn from what was provided.
Because Ka'ohao serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing result. The school also carries no magnet designation, and its Title I status was not reported. Publicly reported information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance was not available in the data provided, so those dimensions of school life are left out rather than guessed.
The housing market around Ka'ohao is among the more expensive in the state. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well above both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are similarly elevated. The price-to-income ratio is steep, meaning families buying into this area face a substantial affordability stretch relative to typical earnings. Monthly mortgage costs run higher than rents, which themselves consume a considerable portion of household income. Recent legislative restrictions on short-term rentals in Honolulu County may reshape the neighborhood's tourism footprint over time, though specific new housing development projects were not identified in the available research.
Ka'ohao operates as a charter school under the Hawaii Department of Education, the statewide district that encompasses all public schools in the islands. The district brief returned no specific recent policy, curriculum, or budget changes of lasting impact, so there is little to report on that front.
For a family considering Ka'ohao, the picture that emerges is of a small, academically strong elementary charter school in an affluent, outdoorsy windward Oahu community. The proficiency results stand out as a clear strength. The peer environment reflects the surrounding area's demographics and economic profile, and the cost of living is high. Parents weighing this school may want to ask directly about supports for students with special needs and English learners, since those data points were not available, and to look into how the school prepares its sixth graders for the transition to intermediate school.
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