Honokaa High & Intermediate School

Honokaa High & Intermediate School is a 7–12 school serving 695 students in the town of Honokaa on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii Island, and it is the only school within 20 miles, so families here have no nearby campus to compare against; it operates within the statewide Hawaii Department of Education.

Because there are no neighboring schools, the useful benchmark is how Honokaa compares with ranked high schools across Hawaii — and that comparison is where the story is strongest. Over the past two years the school climbed to the 68th percentile statewide with a four-star rating, the best position in its recorded history and up from the 17th percentile just a few years earlier. The gains show up in the classroom: English language arts proficiency rose from 33% to 51% in three years, and math more than doubled from 18% to 41%. The school also serves its lowest-income students well — roughly 53% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and that group ranks at the 70th percentile statewide. English language learners rank at the 69th percentile, up from the 25th.

The remaining work is concentrated in a few places. Science slipped from 43% to 36%, making it the one subject moving backwards. Chronic absenteeism is still high at 38%, though that is an improvement from 42.8%, and the graduation rate edged down from 84.5% to 83.0% — the opposite direction from test scores. A few student groups, including one ranked near the bottom of the state, remain far behind even as others thrive, and the school's own data shows a wide spread between its highest- and lowest-served populations. Per-student spending is reported only for 2018–19 and is too old to judge current resources. Overall, this is a school on a genuine, measurable upswing with clear next steps.