Summary:
ZIP code 96791, on Oahu's North Shore, has two public schools in the Hawaii Department of Education: Waialua Elementary School (grades PK–6, 413 students) and Waialua High & Intermediate School (grades 7–12, 574 students). There is no separate middle school or alternative school here, and total enrollment across the two is 987 students — the high/intermediate school is about 39% larger and accounts for roughly 58.2% of the ZIP's enrollment.
The two schools post very different proficiency profiles. In 2025–2026, Waialua Elementary reported ELA 65, math 60 and science 58, while Waialua High & Intermediate reported ELA 60, math 38 and science 32 — a 22-point math gap and a 26-point science gap, with the elementary school ahead in every tested subject in both years available. Both schools hold 4 stars, with similar 2025–2026 rank percentiles (75th for the elementary, 74th for the high/intermediate), which suggests rankings compare schools within their own level rather than on raw scores. The high/intermediate school's standout is its 95.0% graduation rate in 2024–2025.
Chronic absenteeism is 19.0% at the elementary and 22.0% at the high/intermediate school. Both have the same student-teacher ratio, 13.3. The elementary school has a higher free/reduced lunch rate (50.36% vs. 38.85%), while the high/intermediate school spent about 9.8% more per student in 2018–2019 ($17,713 vs. $16,127) — old data that should not be tied to recent results. Trends diverge: the elementary school's math proficiency slipped 6 points year over year and its rank percentile fell from 80 to 75 since 2023–2024, while the high/intermediate school's rank improved slightly to 17th of 65.
Thank you for your feedback!