The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Math. The lowest is 26% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Kekaha Elementary School
Kekaha Elementary School sits on the southwest shore of Kauai, in a small community stretched along Hawaii Route 50. The town is a former sugar plantation settlement; the Kekaha Sugar Mill once anchored the local economy for generations of families until Hawaii's sugar industry collapsed. Today the community is primarily residential, with the Pacific Missile Range Facility, a Navy installation to the northwest, standing as the area's major employer. The built environment reflects that plantation heritage rather than a traditional downtown, with civic and commercial functions distributed along the highway. Publicly reported sources describe the area as car-dependent, with no formal transit system or public library identified in the community. Beach erosion along the Kekaha coast is an ongoing environmental concern documented by university researchers.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Hawaii Department of Education, the statewide district that governs all of Hawaii's public schools. Enrollment sits in a moderate range for a Kauai elementary school. The student body is predominantly Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, the largest single group, followed by roughly equal shares of Hispanic students and students of two or more races, with a smaller Asian population and a very small White population. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available in the provided records, so those figures are not reported here.
On state assessments, Kekaha Elementary shows a clear pattern: stronger results in the early tested grades that taper as students move higher. In math, third graders posted a solid proficiency rate, with more than half meeting the standard. Fourth grade landed near the middle, and fifth grade dropped below that. English language arts followed a similar arc, with third graders at a respectable level, fourth grade lower, and fifth grade lower still. Science, tested only in fifth grade, showed the weakest results among the three subjects. Participation was full or near-full on the math and ELA assessments across all grades. Science participation was notably lower, which may reflect the smaller number of tested students or scheduling factors; a parent may want to look into this further with the school. Only one year of data was available, so no trend over time can be described. Average scale scores were not reported.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. That is expected for an elementary school and not a gap in the data. We also looked for information on Title I status, staffing, discipline, course access, and attendance, but none of these fields were provided. Program offerings were not included in the data either, so details about extracurriculars, enrichment, or specialized instruction are not available here. A parent interested in those aspects would need to contact the school directly.
On housing, the area around Kekaha carries typical west Kauai costs. The typical home value sits below the broader Hawaii state benchmark but well above the national figure. The price-to-income ratio is high, reflecting the wider challenge of housing affordability on the islands. Rent data was not available for this location. Mortgage costs at current rates would exceed what most local households could comfortably carry based on national income benchmarks, though island economics do not always map neatly onto mainland models.
The district-level brief returned little in the way of recent policy, curriculum, or budget changes specific to this school or region. Hawaii's single-district structure means decisions are made at the state level rather than by a local board, and the search did not surface any recent shifts a parent should be aware of.
What the picture suggests is a small, community-rooted elementary school serving a diverse, largely working-class population in a town still finding its footing after the loss of its plantation economy. Academic results start reasonably strong in the early grades but slide by fifth grade, with science a particular soft spot. For a family already in west Kauai or drawn to the area's rural coastal character, the school offers a local option with a student body that reflects the community's own makeup. The declining upper-grade performance is the area most worth pressing on in a conversation with school leaders.
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