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Kapaa High School

Kapaa · HI · Hawaii Department of Education · Public

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🎓96% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 44% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Top 0.9% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 96% (82th percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How Kapaa High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • LocallyHI trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Kanuikapono - PCS, Kauai High School, Island School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Top 0.9% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
1,022
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
Essentially all eligible
Senior-heavy / specialty program — takers exceed grade 9-12 enrollment
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
96%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
240
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
18.3%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
60.6%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Mixed-income school

Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)

31.6%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
21.0%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
211
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
201:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
64
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 244 in 2021 to 201 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-17.6%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,005 students:

2025
1,003
2027
999
2029
995

≈ 10 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $18,374 per student in district revenue, the 10 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $183,740/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Kanuikapono - PCS
Anahola
Public · charter 3.4 23
Kauai High School
Lihue
Public 9.7 1,010 -9.3%
Island School
Lihue
Private 9.9 426 +11.5%
Kawaikini - NCPCS
Lihue
Public · charter 10.2 22
Kauai Christian Academy
Kilauea
Private 10.5 150 +127.3%
Niihau High & Elementary School
Waimea
Public 24.6 5
Waimea High School
Waimea
Public 24.6 707 -6.4%
Kula Aupuni Niihau A Kahelelani Aloha - NCPCS
Kekaha
Public · charter 26.9 4

For Parents

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