Connections - New Century Pcs, Hilo HI

Original Research by School Decision on Connections - New Century Pcs

Connections -New Century PCS is a public charter school in Hilo serving kindergarten through twelfth grade under a single roof. That full grade span is uncommon for a charter school on this island, and it gives families a continuous pathway from early elementary through graduation without changing buildings. The enrollment is modest for a school covering that many grades, with the population concentrated in the upper elementary and middle grades and smaller cohorts at the kindergarten and senior levels.

The student body reflects the surrounding community. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students form the largest group, followed by Hispanic students and students of two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which positions the school as serving a working-class population. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.

State assessment results from the most recent year tell a mixed but mostly difficult story. In English language arts, proficiency climbs as students move into the upper grades, with middle-grade results reaching a level that approaches what many Hawaii schools see. The strongest reading results appear in seventh grade. Elementary reading results are much lower, with only a small number of students reaching proficiency in the earliest tested grades. Mathematics is the sharper concern. Proficiency is very low across every tested grade, and in some grades no students reached the proficient threshold. Science results land between the two subjects, with eighth-grade science stronger than fifth-grade science. The tested groups in each grade are small, which means a few students moving in or out of proficiency can shift a grade's result substantially. A parent considering this school may want to ask how the school is responding to these math results and what supports are in place.

Only one year of assessment data was available, so no trend over time can be described. Whether these results represent a dip, a plateau, or a longer pattern is not clear from what was provided.

Several categories of information were missing entirely. No graduation rate was reported, even though the school serves twelfth grade, so families cannot see how the senior cohort fares from the state data. No course access, staffing, attendance, or discipline data was provided. No Title I status was listed. No programs or extracurricular offerings were described. These gaps mean the academic picture here is limited to state test results and basic enrollment figures. For the statewide Hawaii Department of Education, publicly reported searches turned up no specific policy, curriculum, or funding changes of recent note, so there is little district-level context to add.

Hilo itself is the county seat of Hawaii County and carries the institutional weight that comes with that role. County, state, and federal offices sit in and near the downtown core. The University of Hawaii at Hilo and Hawaii Community College give the town a college dimension, and publicly reported sources note that the local economy shifted after the sugar plantations closed, moving toward education, astronomy tied to Mauna Kea, tourism, and macadamia nut production. Downtown Hilo has a farmers market, galleries, museums, and the Palace Theater. Civic anchors include Liliuokalani Park and Gardens along the bay, the Pacific Tsunami Museum, the Imiloa Astronomy Center, and the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo, the only rainforest zoo in the country. The town is served by Hilo International Airport and the island-wide Hele-On bus system. Annual events such as the Merrie Monarch Festival draw visitors and support the local economy. Tsunami damage in the bayfront area led to those low-lying stretches being rededicated as parks, which shaped how the waterfront developed.

The school's address on Kamehameha Avenue places it along one of downtown Hilo's main streets. Housing in the school's zip code is less expensive than the statewide benchmark but still costly relative to income. The typical home value sits well below the state figure, and rents are moderate for the island. The price-to-income ratio is high, though, and monthly mortgage costs exceed rent by a wide margin, which shapes what families can afford. For a family already in Hilo, Connections offers a charter alternative to the traditional Hilo and Waiakea school complexes, with the trade-off of much smaller scale and the academic questions the test results raise.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

50-59%Cohort of 36 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

59 schools plotted. 4 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 35%

School 5% · District 53% · ▼ 49 pts below district

▼ 49 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 47%

School 7% · District 51% · ▼ 44 pts below district

▼ 43 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 45% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 44 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 41% · ▼ 41 pts below district

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 38% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 36% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 35%

School 5% · District 50% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 47%

School 7% · District 52% · ▼ 45 pts below district

▼ 46 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 56% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 54% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 54% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 54% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Science

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 49% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 43% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 9 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.