Kailua High School School Improvement Status

Summary of Progress

Kailua High School is committed to providing a rich environment for learning and opened its doors for full in-person learning in SY 21-22, with an option for distance learning. Last year, KHS revamped its Vision and Mission to align with values and beliefs needed for success in the 21st century. To execute this, some of the school improvement efforts include but are not limited to:

• Action-Oriented Data Decision Making:

KHS Academic Review Teams (ART) have been in existence for just two years and they work diligently to plan, implement and monitor the enabling activities in our Academic Plan. The ART Leads lead their teams in writing the Self-Study in preparation for our WASC visit in April 2023. The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) ART led school-wide PD and implementation of the action (data) teams process to address some of the WASC recommendations from 2017. We will provide more PD in SY 23-24 to refine the process and we hope to infuse it within our Powerful Instructional Practice of learning targets/success criteria, a push we started this year.

• Healthy Habits/Healthy Schools:

The Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) ART led the school-wide administration of the Panorama SEL Survey three times this year so students could recognize strengths as well as areas for improvement in terms of their SEL skills. A school-wide behavior matrix was created and implemented in SY 22-23. Some trauma-informed training has been done and we will continue to provide this PD to all staff in upcoming years.. Teachers benefitted from quarterly team-building activities led by the Culture ART and we held “Triage Thursdays” to help with teacher well-being. Gradually this year,  students experienced in-person courtyard activities, prom and graduation as a starting point for getting “back to normal.”

• Responsive Capacity Building:

Family engagement started slowly this year but with the recent completion of our physical Family Resource Center, our PCNC has taken the lead to start forming a Parent Advisory Council to further build the program. Professional developments in the form of presentations, small group/department work, and share outs have been paramount in the development of our staff. Some of the PD areas we focused on include but are not limited to: PBL; action teams; trauma-informed, SEL and MTSS training; EL, Tier 1 and student engagement strategies; and curriculum mapping. Our brand new teachers joined in bimonthly PLCs to discuss various topics ranging from classroom management to EES.

• Effective Academic Practices:

Led by the Future ART, the staff went through a voting process this year and we will be changing the bell schedule in SY 23-24 to a year-round “7 on 8” schedule. We are doing this to increase teacher collaboration time; provide a structure for the creation of academies so students are prepared for college/career opportunities through Career Pathways; and, to continue the push toward PBL and/or interdisciplinary units. Our inaugural academy, the Ready to Surf Academy, has made great strides in teaching our FSC students skills such as organization and time management through their Coffee Cart and T-shirt printing operations. In addition, our first-year Kaiapuni program continues to grow using videos, social media and performances to showcase their learning. We will continue to offer our Summer Learning Hub and Summer Bridge program for students who need extra time and support due to the effects of COVID and biweekly study halls will continue. We also started an after school credit recovery program to service those students who needed extra service during the school year. Some encouraging data shows that 70% of students enrolled in the 2021 Summer Hub completed and passed at least one course. In ELA and some SPED classes, Reading Plus continues to be utilized and we will be adding Read 180 (EL and SPED ELA) and Springboard as new curricula in SY 22-23. In addition, the Math department will be starting a new curriculum for Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2. ELA and Math SBA scores have shown improvement, jumping 14% and 9%, respectively from 2018-2020 and EL scores jumped 10% in the last two years.  

Overall, KHS continues to build opportunities for students and staff to be healthy and safe; focus on SEL; and accelerated learning through PBL.