Ala Wai Elementary School

Ala Wai Elementary School is a PK–5 campus of 344 students on Kamoku Street in urban Honolulu, in the Waikīkī-adjacent corridor, and it is part of the Hawaii Department of Education, the state's single statewide school district. It serves a high-poverty population: about 65% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, up from 59% two years earlier.

Academically, Ala Wai sits in the lower tier of Hawaii elementary schools: its statewide percentile has ranged from 22nd to 44th across ten reported years, and the most recent results are at the low end of that band. In 2025–26 it ranked 156th of 203 schools (23rd percentile, 1 star) — the worst rank in the ten years shown — with proficiency of 39% in English language arts, 36% in math, and 32% in science. Those are the lowest scores among the 11 nearby schools compared, where the averages are 61%, 58%, and 60%. Proficiency has declined over two years (ELA -7, math -7, science -13), and Ala Wai is the only school in the group whose percentile fell three years running (44 → 37 → 23) while several neighbors improved. Special education is a genuine bright spot: that subgroup ranked in the 58th percentile statewide in 2025–26 and 73rd in 2023–24, far above the school overall.

Chronic absenteeism is 34% — roughly one in three students — the highest in the group and nearly double the peer average of 18.6%. Resources don't look like the constraint: Ala Wai spends $17,153 per student, about 7% above the peer average, and its student–teacher ratio of 13.7 matches peers and is improving. The closest comparison is Queen Kaahumanu Elementary School, 1.6 miles away, with nearly identical poverty (65.4%) and spending ($17,851) yet higher proficiency (47/47/40) and lower absenteeism (27%), which suggests school-level practice matters. The clearest actionable pattern for families is attendance: every nearby school with absenteeism under 20% scores at least 55% in ELA.