Paauilo Elementary & Intermediate School, Paauilo HI

Original Research by School Decision on Paauilo Elementary & Intermediate School

Paauilo Elementary & Intermediate School sits in a small rural community on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii Island, a place shaped by its sugar plantation past. When sugar production ended, Paauilo settled into a quiet residential character with a grocery store, a post office, and small local food businesses like the Hawaiian Vanilla Company and Donna's Cookies. The abandoned sugar mill and docks near the ocean remain as historical landmarks. There is no real downtown, and the built environment is scattered along Highway 19, which connects residents to Hilo in one direction and Waimea in the other. Walkability is limited by the dispersed, car-oriented layout typical of this coast. No major employers are based in Paauilo itself, so working families likely commute to nearby Honokaa or Hilo. Growth has been minimal over recent decades, with no major housing developments identified. The community is small and stable.

The school serves pre-kindergarten through ninth grade, though the vast majority of its enrollment falls in the elementary and intermediate bands. It is a regular public school within the Hawaii Department of Education, not a charter or magnet. The student body is small for its grade range, reflecting the community it draws from. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is racially and ethnically diverse, with the largest group identifying as two or more races, followed by Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and Hispanic students. White and Asian students make up smaller portions. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.

On state assessments, Paauilo's math results are a relative strength. Across the tested grades, most sit above the halfway mark for proficiency, with the strongest showing in eighth grade and solid results in third, fifth, and sixth. Seventh grade dips only slightly below the others. Fourth-grade math results were not reported, likely tied to the very small number of tested students in that grade. English language arts results are more uneven. Third grade sits well below the school's middle grades, while fifth and seventh grade reach solid levels and eighth grade is close behind. Sixth grade lands in the lower middle range. The same fourth-grade gap appears in ELA, again likely reflecting a small tested cohort. In science, fifth-grade proficiency is strong, but eighth grade drops to a lower level. A parent may want to look into the eighth-grade science result further with the school to understand what is driving that dip.

Because only a single year of assessment data was available, no trend could be computed. The school's overall combined proficiency across all grades sits at roughly the midpoint for math and science, with ELA slightly behind. Participation rates were full across every tested grade and subject, which means the results reflect the enrolled population without concern about missing students.

Housing in the Paauilo zip code is priced below the Hawaii state benchmark but well above the national figure, and values have eased recently. Estimated monthly mortgage costs are steep relative to typical incomes, and the price-to-income ratio is high. Rent data was not available for this area. Families considering a move here should weigh the housing cost against the rural lifestyle and the need to commute for work and services.

The school does not report graduation rate data, which makes sense given that it serves primarily elementary and intermediate grades rather than a full high school band. No course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance data was provided, and no neighbor comparison was available. The district brief for the Hawaii Department of Education did not surface any specific recent policy, curriculum, or budget changes relevant to parents. Where information was thin, it has been named rather than filled. What the available data shows is a small, rural community school with solid math performance, mixed literacy and science results, full assessment participation, and a student population that mirrors the diverse, working-character community around it.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 45% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 41% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 38% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 36% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 50% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 56% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 647%

School 47% · District 54% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 54% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 54% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 49% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 43% · ▼ 2 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

This schoolHawaii Department of Education, 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.