Honoka`a High and Intermediate School School Improvement Status

Summary of Progress

Honoka‘a High and intermediate School (HHIS) completed the second year as a Hawaii Academy School. Under the Academy model all students and staff were welcomed to full in-person learning and activities in smaller learning communities or pathways. These pathways allowed teachers to use student interests as a lens for learning. 

HHIS has three Academies, Academy of Public Service, Academy of Industry, and Academy of Discovery. Academy teams met once a week to support teachers and staff in developing hands-on learning opportunities, and rigorous and relevant coursework through project-based learning. Under year one of Academies students were exposed to various career and college pathways and were provided experiences that result in the critical thinking they need to be successful. To learn more about academies, teachers were provided with Pathway Externships to have a better understanding of how their content supports student learning in their pathway.  Students were given the opportunity to lead lessons and activities for their teachers to engage in the learning and experiences they have as a student in their pathway. Academy Student Ambassadors were also introduced this school year. The ambassadors are pivotal in the success of the pathways, as they are the face and voices used to communicate with students, community, business partners, and visitors on what Academy at HHIS is. 

In addition to Academies, HHIS has a solid academic core program that offers dual credit and Early college programs in partnership with local colleges. Students can also take online courses through E-School for advancement as an alternative learning format and Edmentum for limited distance learning and credit recovery. 

The school's Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) met weekly to lead the charge of collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing multiple sources of data to develop school wide SMART goals and initiatives. The goals steered the implementation of common instructional strategies and the creation of common formative assessments across Professional Learning Teams (PLT). At the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, teachers were organized into content-like PLTs to discuss their content's priority standards and skills students need to learn. 

A big focus for HHIS was forming behavior expectations using the Dragon PRIDE matrix - Passion, Respect, Integrity, Determination, and Excellence. Lessons and activities were provided to help students and teachers build positive relationships and improve their sense of belonging through Dragon PRIDE. In addition, quarterly assemblies were held and students received recognition for their accomplishments and ability in showing Dragon PRIDE. Teachers and staff had a vote and students had another vote. 

Co-curricular activities continue to shine bright spots on HHIS. The Grammy award-winning jazz band and music program continues to grow and afford students in all grades the opportunity to develop their musical talents. Athletics had a great year with the football team winning the BIIF Division II title, and many of the teams competing in the BIIF and HHSAA tournaments. Student body government/leadership brought assemblies, dances, and activities back to campus providing a much needed boost in the sense of belonging and morale across campus. Grant partnerships with Gear Up, Partner’s in Development’s Ka Hana No‘eau, UPLINK, and Peer Forward added enriching co-curricular possibilities and programs to the school experience such as clubs, mentorship programs, and tutoring.