The ‘ridiculous’ growing trend of private school coaching in Hawaii

Alex Dennis has already applied and paid $125 to Punahou Private School in Honolulu for her 4-year-old son. But she was still worried about his chances of enrolling in kindergarten next year, so she hired popular tutoring agency Takahashi Juku Ltd. to prepare him for entrance interviews.

The first session at Takahashi Juku cost $100, Dennis said, and she plans to bring her son several more times. The tutor helped her son prepare for likely steps in Punahou’s interview and assessment process, such as drawing a self-portrait or describing a picture of a car.

Private schools play a prominent role in Hawaii’s education system, more than in any other state, according to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Wealthy parents who want to ensure their children’s success in admissions have created a thriving private school tutoring and preparation business, with some hourly rates of $100 or more.

Last year, nearly 17% of Hawaii students were enrolled in 98 private schools located mostly in urban areas of Honolulu.

Punahou declined to say how many families apply each year, but said on its website that the school typically admits 150 students to kindergarten.

Some parents say tutoring services are only widening the gap between high- and low-income families’ ability to send their children to private schools, with the most expensive schools charging $30,000 a year for tuition. While many schools offer financial aid, some parents say they are already concerned about the cost of tuition and cannot afford additional tutoring or counseling throughout the admissions process.

It is unclear whether private tutoring significantly improves students’ chances of admission. Admissions officers stress that they look beyond students’ test scores, and that teachers can only do so much when it comes to solving math problems with students or helping them memorize vocabulary words.

“We thought, ‘This is ridiculous, this requires extra money on top of this already expensive process,’” Dennis said. “But then it’s your child, their education, and you want the best for them.”

In the field of reception

Throughout August and September, Nicole Gomez spent hours each week filling out her son’s private school applications. Gomez, who plans to enroll her son in kindergarten at five schools in Honolulu and Kailua, said she finds it difficult to conduct research on schools, schedule campus visits and write the short essays required for the application.

She also felt compelled to think seriously about private schools after talking with other families and listening to their criticisms of the quality of public education in Hawaii.

“I felt like we had little choice,” Gomez said, although the family also plans to consider attending public schools in the neighborhood.

There have been few studies comparing the quality of education in Hawaii’s public and private schools, said Lois Yamauchi, an education professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. There is a false belief that children cannot have a good education experience in public schools, and private school parents are eager to justify their decision to spend thousands of dollars on education each year, she said.

Private school admissions may run from early fall to spring, and applicants must submit transcripts, letters of recommendation, and be interviewed by admissions officers and teachers. Some schools, including ‘Iolani and Punahou, also require middle and high school students to take a standardized test designed for admission to private schools.

Philip Bossert, executive director of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, said his organization does not track which private schools use standardized tests or the total number of students who apply for admission each year. Test scores are only a small part of what schools consider when reviewing families’ applications, he added.

However, some families spend hours on test sessions starting as early as elementary school to prepare their children for sixth grade.

At the Accelerated Learning Center, which operates two tutoring centers on Oahu, manager Brandt Izumo serves 100 students a year, up from about 70 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Students with the greatest improvement in test scores spend six months or more at the center, solving math problems in geometry or algebra and memorizing vocabulary words, Izumo said.

Accelerations Training Center charges $65 per hour for standardized test prep classes. Izumo said 95% of his students receive at least one acceptance letter from the schools they apply to.

Hawaii’s private school enrollment rate, although high compared to other states, has remained stable since the 1990s. However, between 2000 and 2020, the number of tutoring centers grew from 20 to more than 80, said Edward Kim, an assistant professor at Bentley University. This includes centers that help students with academic work, standardized test preparation, and private school admissions.

Many families are spending more on admissions preparation, said Megan Meyer, founder of Honolulu-based consulting firm Admission Matters. Meyer’s business, which launched in late 2021, advises families about private school options in Hawaii and helps them find the right placement for their children.

Some families feel the need to prepare their students by enrolling them in extracurricular activities or tutoring, Meyer added, especially when they are applying to popular schools like ‘Iolani and Punahou. Meyer serves up to 20 students a year and charges approximately $175 per hour for his counseling services.

Most private schools do not publish information about their acceptance rates. But Kamehameha Schools’ Kapalama campus, which prioritizes Native Hawaiian students and is one of the most sought-after schools in the state, says it can have up to 17 students vying for one spot each year.

“Given that many of our families really want to go to what we call more prestigious schools,” Meyer said, “there’s definitely a greater emphasis on being competitive in the process.”

High costs, uncertain rewards

But even as the admissions tutoring business grows, it’s unclear what impact specialized tutoring has on students’ chances of admission.

Mid-Pacific Institute, a private K-12 school in Manoa, has dropped standardized test scores as admissions requirements during the pandemic. Students can still submit results, but many families choose not to, said Director of Enrollment Management Christelle McGuigan.

Mid-Pacific knows wealthier families may turn to pre-med courses and private tutoring, McGuigan said, and the school wanted to make the admissions process as fair as possible when testing becomes optional in 2020.

“We want our process to be as fair and accessible as possible for all families, regardless of their financial situation,” McGuigan said.

McGuigan said it’s hard to say whether the changes have helped more low-income families. But she added that it’s important to reduce barriers that may prevent families from applying, especially when schools have other ways to assess students’ academic abilities.

Nationally, studies show that tutoring centers are concentrated in areas with high incomes and Asian American families, Kim said. But while private tutoring may widen the achievement gap between high- and low-income students, it may play a smaller role in private school admissions in Hawaii, he said.

Tutoring centers are likely to cause concern among parents who know how competitive the admissions process is, Kim said. But even if tutoring centers weren’t an option, he added, wealthier families would still invest heavily in making their children’s applications stand out, for example by enrolling their children in extra-curricular activities.

At Le Jardin Academy, a private school in Kailua, director of admissions and enrollment Jennifer Souza said she often reassures parents that extracurricular activities are not needed. The test is only a small part of the admissions criteria, she said, especially when considering how students perform in other activities.

“We look at it, but it’s not that hard,” Souza said of the standardized test scores. The school receives approximately 430 applicants annually and has an acceptance rate of 66%.

But even if tests make up only a small part of the admissions process, families who can afford tutoring appear to have an advantage, said Kuhio Lewis, chief executive officer of the Native Hawaiian Advancement Council. Lewis said he applied for both of his children to attend Kamehameha School, but his son was denied and his daughter was waitlisted.

At the time, Lewis said, he was a working single parent and couldn’t afford tutors to prepare his children for admissions tests or private school interviews.

Now that his children have graduated, Lewis said he doesn’t regret sending them to public school. But, he added, all families should have the same opportunity to prepare their children for private school and succeed in the admissions process.

“It really appeals to people with money,” Lewis said.

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy..