Ahuimanu Elementary School, Kaneohe HI

Original Research by School Decision on Ahuimanu Elementary School

Ahuimanu Elementary School sits in Kāneʻohe, a residential community on the windward side of Oʻahu, serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of the Hawaii Department of Education. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, operating in a neighborhood where suburban development stretches along the slopes above Kāneʻohe Bay. The school draws from a community that has transitioned over generations from taro and pineapple farming to a largely residential suburb, with commercial life spread along Kamehameha Highway and Windward Mall serving as the main retail hub. Marine Corps Base Hawaii sits across the bay, and Likelike Highway, Pali Highway, and Interstate H-3 connect the area to Honolulu over the Koʻolau Range.

The student body is moderate in size for its grade band and reflects the ethnic diversity typical of windward Oʻahu. The largest groups are students of two or more races and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students, followed by Hispanic, white, and Asian students. A substantial share qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, though not a majority. Data on special-education enrollment and English-learner status was not available, so those dimensions of the student population cannot be described here.

On the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the most recent results paint a mixed picture across grade levels. In English language arts, proficiency is solid in the early grades and sixth grade, with third graders performing particularly well. Fourth and fifth grade ELA results sit lower but still show about half of tested students meeting proficiency. Math follows a different pattern: third and fourth graders perform at a moderately strong level, but proficiency drops notably in fifth grade and again in sixth grade. Science, tested only in fifth grade, landed right at the midpoint. The overall ELA proficiency rate sits above the overall math rate. A parent looking at these results may want to ask the school about instructional support in upper-grade math, where the decline is most visible. Only one year of assessment data was available, so no trend over time can be described.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. No discipline data, course-access information, staffing figures, or attendance records were provided, so those aspects of the school environment cannot be characterized here. Program offerings were not available in the data we received.

The housing market around Ahuimanu is among the more expensive in the state. Typical home values in the school's zip code run well above the state benchmark and far above national figures, reflecting the broader cost of living on Oʻahu's windward side. Rents have risen recently, and the gap between monthly rent and monthly mortgage costs is narrow relative to many mainland markets, meaning families renting in the area face costs that approach what owners pay. For families considering a move into the attendance zone, housing affordability will be a primary factor alongside school quality.

Kāneʻohe itself is car-oriented, with limited walkable street life outside the highway commercial corridor and mall area. The community lacks a traditional downtown core, but schools and civic institutions are woven into the residential fabric rather than isolated on separate campuses. Windward Community College and Hawaiʻi Pacific University's windward campus are nearby, giving the area an educational presence beyond the K-12 system. The locale brief notes Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden and the Hawaiʻi National Veterans Cemetery as civic anchors, and public access to Kāneʻohe Bay is available from the pier and boat ramp at nearby Heʻeia Kea. No specific new housing developments or district-level policy changes were identified in the research, so there is little to report on recent growth pressures or strategic shifts.

In short, Ahuimanu offers a diverse student community in an established windward Oʻahu neighborhood, with reasonably strong early-grade results in both reading and math, a clear soft spot in upper-grade math, and a housing market that demands careful budgeting. Families whose children are entering the lower grades may find a solid academic start here. Families with children in fifth or sixth grade would benefit from asking how the school addresses the dip in math proficiency as students prepare for the transition to middle school.

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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% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 51% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 45% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 41% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 50% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 56% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 662%

School 62% · District 54% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 49% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income80%45 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income68%43 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income77%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income29%Higher-income70%41 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income68%35 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income22%Higher-income47%25 pp gap