The evidence keeps pointing to a direct relationship between success in school and success in life, that performance in school — even at an early age — is a clear marker of how the individual will do later on.

This suggests a new urgency for our schools and the justice system to work together to reduce the number of kids enticed by a life of crime and/or drug use.

A just-completed study by the state Attorney General's Office finds that the most common trait among boys and girls in Hawai'i's juvenile justice system boils down to this: an inability to succeed in the state's public schools.

If it seems like an obvious point, then why isn't there greater early collaboration between the Department of Education and the juvenile justice system?

That doesn't mean teachers have to play cops in the classroom, or stray from their main goal of teaching children.

Indeed, the best thing schools and communities can do is to continue to value academic learning for all.

Researcher Linda Pasko, who conducted the study, said male and female juvenile offenders were equally likely to have failed in school, which led to chronic truancy and increased pathways to delinquency.

Such failure, the study said, can occur as early as third grade and lead to the development of disruptive behaviors that often escalate in junior high and high school.

The research shows that many kids in the juvenile justice system might have avoided their plight if they had the proper care and counseling at the first sign of an academic lapse in schools.

Ideally, the DOE and the juvenile justice system could share information and resources to prevent students from getting deeper into trouble.

There are, of course, a number of other factors as to why kids drift into juvenile delinquency. But, as the state attorney general's study shows, helping kids succeed in school early on can set them on a path that will serve them, and society, well.