The top reported proficiency rate is 63% in English language arts. The lowest is 47% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Aliamanu Middle School
Aliamanu Middle School sits on Salt Lake Boulevard in Honolulu, serving seventh and eighth graders as part of the Hawaii Department of Education. It is a regular public school in an urban setting, drawing from the Salt Lake neighborhood near the heart of Oʻahu's south shore. The area around it is a mix of residential and commercial strips, with easy access to downtown Honolulu, Ala Moana, and the military installations that anchor much of the local economy. Honolulu itself is the state's capital and commercial hub, a city shaped by tourism, federal defense spending, state and county government, and healthcare. The housing market near the school runs below the statewide benchmark for typical home values, and rents sit in a moderate range for the island, though affordability remains a persistent concern across the city. Honolulu's population has been aging and slowly declining as residents leave for the mainland, and the city is investing in rail transit as its major infrastructure project.
The school's enrollment is mid-sized for a middle school on Oʻahu, and its student body is genuinely diverse. White students form the largest single group, with Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students each representing substantial shares. Black and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students make up smaller portions of the population. Just under a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which is below what many urban Honolulu schools see. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so families whose children need those services may want to ask the school directly about what is offered.
On state assessments, Aliamanu shows a clear pattern. English language arts is the school's stronger area. Roughly six in ten seventh graders and nearly two-thirds of eighth graders scored proficient or above on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, which is a solid result for a middle school and suggests the literacy instruction is taking hold across both grade levels. Mathematics tells a more mixed story. Seventh grade math proficiency is moderate, with a little over half of students meeting the bar. By eighth grade, that share drops meaningfully, with fewer than four in ten scoring proficient. This is a pattern many middle schools see as the math curriculum shifts toward algebra and more abstract reasoning, but the decline here is large enough that a parent may want to look into how the school supports students through that transition. Science, tested only in eighth grade under the Hawaii NGSS assessment, landed in the middle range, with close to half of students reaching proficiency. Participation rates across all tested grades and subjects were high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire student body rather than a subset.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these proficiency levels are improving, holding steady, or slipping relative to recent years. Average scale scores were also not reported, which limits the picture to who crossed the proficiency threshold rather than how the full distribution of students performed. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate or college- or career-readiness indicator to report. Program offerings, course access details, staffing information, discipline data, and attendance figures were not available in the data provided. The district-level brief for the Hawaii Department of Education did not surface any specific policy changes, curriculum shifts, or budget actions of recent note, so those were left out rather than guessed at.
For a family weighing Aliamanu, the evidence points to a school with real strength in reading and writing, a diverse peer group that mirrors Honolulu's multicultural character, and a moderate level of economic need relative to the broader island. The clearest question mark is eighth grade mathematics, where proficiency falls off from the seventh grade level. Families with children moving into algebra may want to understand what tutoring, intervention, or classroom support the school provides to bridge that gap.
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