Kalama Intermediate School in Makawao recently earn high marks in a Department of Education ranking published by Honolulu Magazine. The magazine has been publishing a public and charter school-ranking chart for more than a decade. In its early years, the rankings were done by crunching data based on official DOE data in conjunction with other academic measures. In 2013, the state DOE unveiled a new program called Strive HI, which is a tool to assess the performance of schools by collecting academic measures such as math and reading scores, as well as attendance and graduation rates and other important criteria.

Honolulu Magazine now bases its ranking report on the Strive HI data but takes it one step further. For easy comparison, the magazine gives each school a report-card-style letter grade, A through F, based on a curve. Though it isn’t an official grade handed out by the DOE, the magazine’s editors think it is a useful shorthand when discussing how well a school is performing.

Kalama earned the highest rank for intermediate schools on Maui, coming in at number 13, with a grade B. Maui Waena Intermediate in Kahului ranked 22 with a letter grade of C+. There were no Intermediate schools on the island that earned an A.

However, two elementary schools in the county took A honors; Maunaloa Elementary on Molokai ranked 10 with an A grade. Kilohana Elementary on Molokai ranked 11, also with an A grade.

Three elementary schools on Maui earned Bs; Pomaika’i Elementary in Kahului ranked 32 with a B grade. Kamehameha III Elementary in Lahaina ranked 42, which converted to a B- score. Also earning a B- was Kahului Elementary, which ranked 49 in the state.

Maui County high schools did not fare as well. Maui High was the only school in the top 20, ranked at 18 with a B- grade. Baldwin High and Hana High & Elementary both earned C+, ranking at 25 and 29 respectively. Kihei Charter and Kekaulike High both landed in the top 50. Kihei Charter ranked 30 with a C grade, while Kekaulike High ranked 43, earning a C-.

Sixty-seven high schools in the state were given scores. Lahainaluna High made the cut, with a rank of 55, but only earned a D for its report-card-style grade.

The number 1 ranked high school in the state is Myron B. Thompson Academy, which is a charter school based in Honolulu. MBT Academy, however, can provide education to students throughout the state with on-line and virtual classes. It serves students in grades K-12.

Data for private schools were not included in the Honolulu Magazine report.

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr/Wikimedia Commons

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