KA‘I Elementary Program (est. 2022)

A partnership between ʻIolani School and Pālolo Elementary, the KA‘I Elementary Program is the newest of the KA‘I Programs and began in the summer of 2022 to close the achievement gap for underserved elementary-aged students, many of whom are English language learners and all of whom experienced a significant learning loss during the pandemic. To be eligible for this program, students commit to attending the summer program for four consecutive summers, beginning the summer after their second-grade year and ending the summer before their sixth-grade year. Half of the students in our first cohort were former KAʻI Keiki students.

KA‘I Elementary students come to ‘Iolani’s campus in the summer for the six-week program. We provide a bus to pick students up from the Pālolo Homes each morning and bring them to ‘Iolani School. At ‘Iolani, students receive hot breakfast and lunch and engage in math and reading sessions, hands-on learning activities, weekly afternoon activities including STEM sessions, sports, library time and cooking. At the end of the day, our bus takes our students back to Pālolo Homes. During the school year, students attend weekly tutoring with the KA‘I Program at Pālolo Elementary. This program will reach full capacity in 2025 and will serve 48 students in grades 3-6 from Pālolo Valley.

As with all of the KA‘I Programs, the goal of the Elementary Program is to support the continual personal and academic growth of students, building a community of teachers and student mentors who provide a positive, nurturing learning environment in which all students are able to stretch beyond what they think is possible for themselves.