Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate School

Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate School is a grades 6–8 middle school at 120 Makani Rd in Makawao, in upcountry Maui, serving 944 students as part of the Hawaii Department of Education. It is the only intermediate school in its immediate area — the three other public intermediates on the island, Iao Intermediate in Wailuku, Maui Waena Intermediate in Kahului and Lokelani Intermediate in Kihei, sit roughly 11 miles away in central and south Maui, so Kalama serves its own upcountry catchment rather than being one choice in a tight cluster.

For 2025-26 the school ranked 52nd of 85 Hawaii middle schools — the 39th percentile, with a 2-star rating. That fits a remarkably steady ten-year record: its percentile has stayed between 32 and 51, never a crisis and never above the state midpoint. Compared with its Maui neighbors, Samuel Enoka Kalama Intermediate School sits at or near the bottom on test scores — 44% proficient in English language arts (tied with Lokelani for lowest), 29% in math (also tied) and 27% in science, the lowest in the group and 22 points behind Maui Waena's 49%.

Attendance, however, is the group's second-best: 28.0% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, better than Iao (37%) and Lokelani (32%), though still about 1 in 3.6 students. Around 55.6% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and per-pupil spending ($16,536, 2018-19) and class sizes (14.0) are among the most favorable of the four schools, so resources don't appear to be the main constraint. The most distinctive pattern is science, which trails the school's own ELA results by 17 points — a wider internal gap than at any peer campus and stable across three years. A clear bright spot: English language learners reached the 60th percentile (3 stars) and have improved steadily.