North Star Academy

2920 W 14000 S

School District

North Star Academy
Grade

K-9
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

charter

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on May 02, 2022

After applying for several years to be picked in the lottery, my two youngest boys finally got in! And we have LOVED it! It's a great school with a "family feel" because you are not just one in a sea of a thousand. Everyone knows each other! The teachers are great and have been patient and helpful with my boys. The office staff are kind and sweet, especially Connie who has helped me personally many times with various things. I love the "uniform" rules so that there's equality and sameness among all. The school counselor, Ms. Hardy, has also been so helpful for my youngest who struggled a bit. I'm SO glad my boys got in before the formative "Junior High" years! It's just a really, really good school and it's been a great blessing to us!
Submitted by other on October 14, 2021

While some good things are going on here, this school is subpar in terms of administrative practices especially with regard to safety and protection of students. There is no screening of the adults NOT employed by the school that they bring in to the classrooms to volunteer; the school does not require any background/ criminal record checks nor do they provide any training on policies or standards of conduct prior to bringing people in with the students. They do not have security cameras on the premises for surveillance. I have also heard stories of them not addressing with disciplinary action (suspension from school, etc.) bullying or aggressive behaviors among students because they do not want those types of incidents on record for their school. These things as a parent do not feed my confidence in this particular school, even though what they report looks good on paper. On a completely different note, the teacher to student ratio is incorrectly stated on this website; it is more like 1:25 (not 1:19).
Submitted by other on October 11, 2021

Love love love North Star! This place sets an example for how to truly care for each student holistically, and they truly live out their mission of providing a challenging and individualized learning environment. The teachers instill passion within their students to not only love the content but love the pursuit of knowledge. The students care for each other in such a way that provides a safe learning environment for students to take risks. The admin team leads by example, makes themselves available to personally hear any complaints, and goes above and beyond to build relationships with the students. I couldn’t recommend NSA more!
Submitted by parent on August 28, 2021

I cannot say enough good things about this school!! It has been such a great experience for the 4 of my 6 children that have been able to attend for the last 7 years. I wish that my two older children could’ve gone here, because the quality of the academics have been exceptional. My son was able to graduate from high school with a high ACT score and was admitted to all local universities with scholarships because of the strong educational foundation he received at North Star. My daughter went from being totally disinterested in her education to graduating from the school with straight A’s who is also active in student government and leadership. Her experience at North Star has put her in a great position to succeed in high school and beyond. My younger kids are happy, have good friends and are succeeding academically. The administration and teachers are amazing! They work tirelessly to look at each child’s achievement to identify where they need the most help and the kids then get the individual attention they need. The atmosphere is positive and encouraging. I love the emphasis that they place on values, character development and being good citizens in the community and our country. I have served in several different capacities within the school and have worked with wonderful parents that are actively invested in improving their children’s education. The academic scores speak for themselves. So proud to be a part of the North Star Community!!!
Submitted by parent on July 30, 2021

Our experience with this school was TERRIBLE. Our daughter who attended kindergarten there this past school year was attacked on the playground during recess one day by a classmate and sustained bad injuries to her head and one of her legs. While not engaged in play with her, completely unprovoked, this boy violently tackled her from behind on a field and ripped her down, then did it again a second time smashing her head first onto concrete while she was trying to run away from him—abuse that resulted in significant harm to her but nothing to himself. The school did not immediately notify me, the teacher just handed her over to me bleeding and banged up at pick up time and didn’t give the impression she thought it was that big of a deal. When I went back in to the school to speak to her further she was curt and dismissive toward me and referred to the incident as “a learning experience for everyone.” She even went as far as rationalizing this boy’s attack on our daughter as somehow her fault. In front of my daughter, the teacher said as I questioned her “well, he said she just wasn’t listening to me”… as though his behavior was justified, in effect placing blame on her though she was the victim, which shocked and disgusted me. To make things worse, she and the director vilified ME when I wanted the school to take action and do something about it. The same boy shoved into her two more times at school after this incident and both times she told school staff, and the director and the teacher brushed it off and said that what our daughter was saying this boy was doing to her wasn’t actually happening (though neither of them saw with their own eyes any of these incidents take place). They refused to validate her voice and pushed back on me—the enraged parent who was advocating for her and demanding they properly address the situation and discipline this child who was bullying our daughter. I fought with them for over two months to the end of us withdrawing from the school, to which their response was crickets—complete indifference and no apologies or regret for anything. No child should have to endure this type of physical, psychological, and emotional trauma at school and it makes me SICK how our family was treated in the wake of all that happened. With such outrageous conduct, attitude that they’re only accountable to themselves, and demonstrated unwillingness to stand against violence and protect its students this school shouldn’t even be allowed to operate.
Submitted by other on July 13, 2021

I originally thought this was a great school, however over the past couple years I have seen the leadership and learning environment deteriorate at an alarming speed. There needs to be some changes made in order for the reputation to be maintained as a great school
Submitted by student on February 04, 2016

I have been a student here since kindergarten. It is such a good learning environment. There are great kids here, and since there aren't many kids, you feel like you fit in somewhere and you know everybody. I totally recommend this school because I have had the best time. The teachers really care and want you to learn and to progress.
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2013

This is our 5th year at North Star Academy, we have 4 children that attend and we LOVE IT!! I like the small school feel with only 25 students in each class and two classes per grade. The teachers are exceptional and I feel that my children are being challenged on a daily basis. They test the kids and move them a grade level ahead in Language Arts and/or Math if they are ready. The school is hard to get into with thousands on the waiting list, but it is worth the wait! There is a lot of parental involvement, fun after school activities but the number one thing is how much they are able to teach the children. My husband and I have considered moving closer to his work, but we have decided against it because we did not want to take our kids out of this school. I can not say enough good things about it. I'm very grateful to the dedicated people that had the vision, did their research and set up such an excellent charter school. Our family is blessed by their effort. Go NSA!