Malama Honua Charter School, Waimanalo HI

Original Research by School Decision on Malama Honua Charter School

Malama Honua Charter School sits in Waimanalo, a small windward-coast community on Oahu's southeastern end. The town is primarily a Hawaiian homelands community with a large Native Hawaiian population, and the school's enrollment reflects that. A majority of students identify as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, with smaller shares identifying as Hispanic, white, or two or more races. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade on a single campus along Ehukai Street, just off Kalanianaole Highway. It is a small school by any measure, with roughly a class and a half per grade level. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Waimanalo itself is a place where residential life and agriculture sit side by side. Large agricultural lots extend from the town center back into the Ko'olau valley, supporting banana, papaya, flower, and organic crop cultivation along with numerous plant nurseries. A small commercial center along the highway offers everyday necessities, and there are no hotels. Bellows Air Force Station separates the town from the shoreline. The rural character and local flavor define the setting, and the school draws from this community.

On state assessments, Malama Honua posts its strongest results in English language arts. Proficiency rates in the upper elementary and early middle grades are genuinely high, with one grade standing out as exceptional. The school's overall ELA proficiency sits well above what most Hawaii schools achieve. Math is more uneven. The middle elementary and early middle grades show solid proficiency, while the lower and upper ends of the tested range are weaker. Science is the soft spot. Fifth-grade science proficiency is middling, and eighth-grade science is low. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly if their child is approaching the upper grades. Every tested grade participated fully, which speaks to the school's follow-through on assessment.

The school has only a single year of assessment data available, so there is no trend to read. Average scale scores were not reported. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available. Information on staffing, discipline, course access, and attendance was not provided. The school does not have a graduation rate, and that is expected because it serves only elementary and middle grades.

Housing in the school's zip code is expensive by any benchmark. Typical home values sit well above the state level and far above the national level. The price-to-income ratio is steep, and estimated monthly mortgage costs are high relative to typical household earnings. Rent data was not available for this location. For families considering a move into the attendance area, the housing market is a serious factor, and affordable options may be limited. The community's Hawaiian homelands status also shapes land ownership and availability in ways that outsiders should understand before assuming standard purchase paths apply.

The school operates under the Hawaii Department of Education as a charter school, which gives it autonomy over its program design while remaining part of the public system. We looked for recent district-level policy, curriculum, or funding changes that might affect families and found little of lasting impact, so we left that out rather than guess. No magnet status or Title I designation was reported. Program offerings, extracurriculars

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 53% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 51% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 41% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 38% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 831%

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

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

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 52% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 56% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 54% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 54% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 54% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 49% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 43% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 32 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.