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We just found out we will be moving to Oahu in December 2010 due to husband's military orders. He will be near Hickam/Smith and I will be in the Federal Building in Honolulu. I have a 6 year old son who will be in 1st grade in the fall. Because of the time of the PCS, we will obvioulsy be moving in the middle of the school year. I am looking to gather information about elementary schools in the area, both public and private. I have been on the HAIS site and read the Oahu private school thread but that thread was more focused on teen girls.
Any information on where to start, what to research, where to consider, would be very helpful, espcially anything that would help with the fact we would be moving in the middle of the school year.
I am in a similar situation, moving to Honolulu and working in the federal building, husband will be retired military and working on one of the military installations. Based on my research, the public schools in Hawaii are very bad, I think ranked 49th, behind Washington DC!! Apparently due to budget cuts, kids will not have school on most Fridays due to furlough. If you can afford it, it seems that private is the way to go, and most middle-class families believe that they must get their children into private school for a decent education. Hopefully some people who live in Hawaii already can give you more specific advice or comment on what I have written, just based upon my own research (I have never lived there). Good luck!
No, no, no, no. Hawaii is in the middle somewhere like 24th but certainly not 49th.
I've have not responded to your thread because I never have lived on Oahu when my kids were in school. We have our concerns but we aren't that bad.
Kids in the first grade in my experience are expected to be able to read (or at least to a certain degree). The first grade concentrates much on language arts with my experience with my sons here in Hawaii. I remember there was too much homework for a first grader and the classes were always divided up according to skill level of the student which makes it real hard on the teacher (and that's another subject altogether).
Hawaii is not anywhere near 24th if you extrapolate the data. It really is nearer to 49th overall!
There is nothing wrong with homework, especially since Hawaii schools have fewer overall hours of attendance than other states do.
I have had to PUSH local teachers, principals and the schools to elevate my kids beyond what they consider as "normal" education. I have had to threaten lawsuits.
This will not be politically correct. Equality is the law. Schools must (legally) spend as much time and money teaching to the advanced students as they spend on teaching to those who will never advance or make it in the real world. They will pretend that you are wrong, but as soon as you mention lawsuit, they will give the advanced student the same considerations as they give the challenged ones. I have had several teachers and administrators here in Hawaii thank me for persevering on this. They don't want to go on record as being "for" advanced students with the possibility that they will be accused as being "against" challenged students.
I have referenced this graph before and and counted and evaluated the states according to the writing scores.
18 states scores are lower then Hawaii and there are 3 or 4 states where the data is not available for the writing scores.
I got the 24th place number from another article I've read. According to what I see with the writing scores on the link it would put Hawaii below the 24th place at 16 to 22 depending on the scores of the missing data states.
No sir; we are not 49th in writing anyway; and that's usually a good indicator wouldn't you agree. Have some faith in your island.
mdand3boys - am I correct in assuming that the experience you described was in a public school? Which grade level (ie, elementary, middle, or high)? Thanks.
Thank you all for your continued input. Because we are going ot be movin gin th emiddle of the school year and my son will be in the middle of 1st grade, its not likely we will be able to get into a private school this year because most wont take either 1st grad as an entry point or mid year students. So I'll probably end up in public school, at least for the spring semester, somewhere near whereever we end up living. we are looking at on base housing for the various bases so we wont know for a while yet where we are going to live and therefore school, at this point.
My kids attended Red Hill elementary 2003-2005 and we were okay with it then.
Test scores have gone down and with the furlough Friday mess we are opting to go private this time (we are also military transferring in) I suggest you look at/google Our Savior Lutheran school- need not be Lutheran to attend. The costs are VERY low by private school standards, and it came recommended. Locale-wise it's convenient- in Aiea, which leaves all of the base housing areas and affordable civilian communities in the central region accessible.
This article about Hawaii students' reading scores is pertinent. Just taking writing skills out of the other results does not give a true picture.
Hawaii Tribune-Herald :: Hilo, Hawaii > Local News (http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/03/25/local_news/local02.txt - broken link)
I mean, really, I could probably extrapolate data somewhere that Furlough Fridays has helped Hawaii students perform the best nationwide in surfing due to additional beach time, but overall, the schools perform very poorly. Any parent must be actively involved with all aspects of their children's education here or the results will not be favorable over time.
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