A school that focuses on at-risk youth, one that integrates the arts throughout its classes, and another that aims to develop leadership skills are among seven applications before the state Public Charter School Commission for new campuses.

The applicants are proposing five startup charter schools on Oahu and two on Kauai: Accelerated Learning Laboratory Hawaii in West Oahu, DreamHouse Inc. in Ewa Beach, IMAG Academy in Waipahu, Kamalani Academy in Wahiawa, Kapolei Charter School, Alaka‘i o Kaua‘i Charter School and Kilohana Academy in East Kauai.

The commission denied three of the schools during the last application cycle, citing concerns over incomplete academic and financial plans.

Most of the applicants Thursday made their pitches to the nine-member commission during a public hearing, where commissioners listened to presentations and testimony but did not make comments or ask questions.

An evaluation panel, which is completing a review of the applications, will make recommendations on each application to commission staff, who will then make recommendations to the commission. The commission is scheduled to issue decisions in August.

The commission, which was established in 2012 with a statutory mission “to authorize high-quality public charter schools throughout the state,” has approved three new schools. (The Board of Education and the commission’s predecessor, the Charter School Review Panel, approved the majority of the state’s 34 charter schools.)

The nonprofit Goodwill Industries of Hawaii is proposing Kapolei Charter School as an alternative high school that would provide individual learning plans to serve a “spectrum of youth” as well as “wrap-around career services,” said Laura Smith, president and CEO of Goodwill Hawaii.

Smith said the nonprofit already works with 300 youths annually to obtain their GED, or General Educational Development, high school equivalency diploma.

“We want to help our youth to be able to not only attain their educational goals, to be able to graduate with a high school diploma, but also to combine that with some thought about a career and what they’re going to do in the future,” she said.

Organizers for Alaka‘i o Kaua‘i are applying for a third time. The school — previously called iLEAD Kauai — would emphasize project-based learning.

“Our whole community is excited to get in our classrooms because that’s what’s missing in a lot them, that authentic application to the real world,” said Kani Blackwell, one of the school’s organizers.

The school’s previous application was criticized in part for its connection to iLEAD charters on the mainland, which commissioners saw as having a weak academic track record.

“I implore you to accept the model that we offer, on which we have spent the last three years developing and improving,” said Elizabeth Reeves, board member of the proposed school. “The organization, our systems, our team of founders and even curriculum have evolved so that we are even more confident in our ability to build a sustainable school where all learners can thrive.”

A group of former public school teachers is behind the application for DreamHouse, a leadership-focused charter school planned for Ewa Beach.

The school is based on feedback gained during “talk story” community events over the last three years by founder Alex Teece, who taught at Ilima Intermediate and is currently studying at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership.

“Having had the pleasure of having Alex as a student, I can speak to his dedication, professionalism and desire to create a school where students are empowered to find their own identities and grow into leaders of their community,” said Deborah Zuercher, a University of Hawaii-Manoa College of Education professor, who serves on the proposed school’s board.

Accelerated Learning Laboratory, a K-12 charter school that opened in Tucson, Ariz., in 1998, has set its sights on expanding to Hawaii.

The school, which has its own proprietary curriculum, approaches learning and teaching as a science, David Jones, the school’s CEO, said in a phone interview from Arizona.

The school consistently is ranked as one of the most challenging high schools in the nation (No. 5 this year) by the Washington Post. Still, it posts a 100 percent graduation rate and 100 percent four-year college-going rate.

“When a scientifically based educational system is applied, we have all students performing at what heretofore had been thought of as gifted-level performance,” Jones said.