Kamehameha Schools Kapālama has reaffirmed its accreditation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Hawai‘i Association of Independent Schools (HAIS) through June 30, 2031, with a mid-cycle report in the 2027-2028 school year.

This seven-year accreditation status is the highest rating given by these two accrediting bodies, signifying KS Kapālama’s commitment to the agencies’ standards to quality learning and development in haumāna in grades K-12.

The cornerstone for this joint accreditation was a multi-year process that included an in-depth self-reflection called a self-study.

Designed to enlist mana‘o and collaborative efforts of the entire school community, the self-study provided stakeholders – from faculty, administrators and support staff to students, alumni and parents – time to examine their campus in relation to WASC’s standards and reflect upon ways to continually improve.

“We wanted to elevate the voice of our campus as a whole,” said Tammy Miles, KS Kapālama dean of K-12 academics who served as the self-study coordinator.

“For us, the process piece is important. It is a time to really examine our campus in relation to these national standards and reflect upon how we want to continuously improve,” she explained. “We wanted the accreditation process to be a rich opportunity for self-reflection and internal dialogue that went well beyond producing the self-study.”

This commitment to positive change was documented by members of the visiting committee following an extensive three-day visit of the campus in January 2024, during which committee members could experience campus life, interview stakeholders and validate their evaluation findings in relation to KS Kapālama’s self-study report.

The visiting committee’s assessment reported the “significant” tightening of collaboration and alignment in key academic content areas since the school’s last accreditation.

Other notable strengths include:

• KS Kapālama’s strategic reorganization of key programs, along with its significant improvement in safety and well-being of students and faculty across the campus.
• A highly talented and passionate campus leadership team that has clearly articulated a vision for the school’s future.
• KS Kapālama’s commitment to and integration of Hawaiian culture-based education through the E Ola! framework.

The visiting committee also cited areas of opportunity, challenge and need – items Miles said the stakeholder committees that had drafted the self-report also recognized during their deliberations.

“After engaging in the self-study process alongside other colleagues and leaders from KS Kapālama, I’ve found that our kula openly acknowledges and celebrates our significant areas of strengths as well as openly recognizes areas for continued growth and improvement. In doing so, we are committed as a school to holomua with opportunities to advance one another and hoʻōla lāhui,” said Kristi Gonzales, a learning specialist with Kula Ha‘aha‘a who served on the portion of the self-study that examined teacher effectiveness and student learner outcomes under the E Ola! framework.

“It validates that the self-reflection we did was accurate,” Miles added. “I think that’s the other piece – the validation of our self-study also validates the strategic direction and the priorities that we have as a campus.”

Seven years will be the next time accreditation is up for review, but the process has already started anew.

Over the summer, the campus leadership team engaged in a retreat to review the report findings and create a future planning document that will include three to five key priorities and an action plan.

“Accreditation is a process. It’s ongoing,” Miles said. “The process doesn’t stop because we received a wonderful seven-year accreditation from our visiting committee. We want to continue that rich self-reflection and dialogue. We’re not really done; we’re just at a different point in the cycle focusing on a different part of the process.”

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