Kapaa High School

Kapaa High School is a public high school in Kapaa, HI, serving grades 9–12 with 1,005 students as part of the Hawaii Department of Education, the state's single statewide district. In 2025-26 it ranked 46th of 65 ranked Hawaii high schools — the 29th percentile, with 2 stars — after drifting down over the past decade from 23rd of 63 (63rd percentile, 3 stars) in 2016-17. The closest comparison is Kauai High School in Lihue, about 9.65 miles away. It is nearly the same size at 1,016 students, but ranked higher in 2025-26 at 40th of 65 (38th percentile, 2 stars), and has ranked ahead of Kapaa in each of the last three reported years.

Academically, results are mixed. In 2025-26, 28% of Kapaa students were proficient in English Language Arts versus 52% at Kauai High — a large gap, and a sharp drop from Kapaa's 46% the year before. Math proficiency was 15% at Kapaa versus 21% at Kauai High. Kapaa's clearest advantage is Biology I, where 31% were proficient compared with 19% at Kauai High, continuing a lead from the prior year (27% vs. 23%). Kapaa's graduation rate is also a strength at 94.0% in 2024-25, up slightly from 93.7% and above Kauai High's 92.0%. Attendance is the bigger concern: 39.0% of Kapaa students were chronically absent in 2024-25, up from 36.1%, compared with 28.0% at Kauai High.

Kapaa's free/reduced lunch rate (31.64%) is lower than Kauai High's (40.35%), and it spent more per student in 2018-19 ($16,461 vs. $15,149), yet its student-teacher ratio is higher at 17.3 versus 14.4 (though it has improved from 17.9). Subgroup results are uneven: English Language Learner students ranked 10th of 33 (70th percentile, 4 stars) in 2024-25, a major gain, while low-income students ranked 44th of 64 in 2025-26 and special education results have slipped across the available years.