NORTHSTAR ACADEMY

NorthStar Academy is a community of learners in an online school. It uses the internet to link students with other students and accredited teachers who provide 100% of the students' instruction and marking.

Through the conferencing software called FirstClass, teachers send their lessons and assignments over the internet, lead group discussions, evaluate students' assignments, and engage in most of the same teacher-student interactions that occur in traditional classrooms. Students complete their assigned work using printed material and software provided by the school. Completed assignments and exams are sent back to teachers for marking and then returned to the students via e-mail.

NorthStar Academy is an excellent complement to the education needs of home schooling and international families as it offers students the choice of taking individual courses or an entire grade-level program to meet their individual academic needs.

WHAT IS AN "ONLINE SCHOOL"?

In the opening line above, you read that NorthStar Academy (NSA) is "a community of learners in an online school." But what is an online school? The answer to this question will vary with each person to whom you ask your question (see our online program 'particulars' in the "Questions You Should Be Asking" section of our website), but we here at NorthStar Academy define our online school as being a combination of correspondence school, home school, and classroom school. You will find elements of all three models of learning and instruction in NSA, but NSA can not be defined solely in terms of just one of the three models.

An online school, as we at NSA have defined it, is an educational and academic program that is characterized by the following features:

1. resource-centered, not teacher-centered, learning and instruction
2. teacher-prepared and teacher-created lessons, assignments, projects, reviews, and tests
3. direct and private access to the teacher(s) and fellow students
4. direct access to the online course(s) and group discussions
5. direct and timely feedback from the teacher(s) regarding the student’s assignment, project, or test
6. direct one-to-one tutoring for each student
7. access to instruction and resources via asynchronous (time independent) communication which is complemented with synchronous/real-time audio or text chat
8. opportunities for participation in extra-curricular activities and projects such as student council, yearbook, and clubs
9. establishment of student services to include transcripts, career and academic counseling, and university or college admission support
10. use of an internet-based software to host the school, and all of its communication, in cyberspace

There are more such characteristics, but for the sake of space and brevity, we will limit our list to the above 10 items. The "NorthStar Particulars" as found in the "Questions You Should Be Asking" and the accompanying "NorthStar's Answers To Those Questions" will present a full list of such characteristics that are part of NSA's online school program.

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PARENTAL OR SUPERVISOR INVOLVEMENT

Although NorthStar teachers provide all instructions, lessons, tests, etc., the parent(s) or supervisor is needed to do the following:

1. proctor school quizzes and tests
2. help the student(s) develop a daily schedule for learning and completing work, and to hold the student(s) accountable to this schedule.
3. check their parent/supervisor email account and the “School News” conference often for official news from the teachers and administrators.

Our program is not a “turn-key” solution to education. Parents or an adult supervisor must be involved with the student’s learning process to provide accountability and encouragement.

WHO SHOULD ENROLL IN NORTHSTAR?

Online courses and distance education programs are not for every student. Some successful classroom students will not do well in the online-distance environment, and vice versa. Please review the following criteria to self-assess your own aptitude for success in our online environment:

A successful NorthStar Academy student will be one who, typically,

1. works well independently, not needing constant adult supervision
2. does not need a high degree of social interaction during the learning process
3. can monitor his/her own progress in an assignment and/or course
4. has designated a specific and supportive learning area in which to study
5. has a parent or parents who are committed to their supervisory role or has an adult supervisor who has the time and ability to successfully oversee his/her progress in the course(s) or program
6. does not have a day or night job at which the student spends more than 10 hours per week
7. has at least a basic comfort and competence level with computer skills to include email and word processing
8. reads at his/her grade level or above and is able to learn via the written word and other graphics, not needing oral instruction to learn
9. if the student is a non-native English speaker, he/she MUST have taken the TOEFL and earned a paper-based TOEFL score of 450, a computer-based score of 140 - 153, or an internet-based score of 41 - 52.

WHY NORTHSTAR?

Countless studies and common experience have shown the strengths of home schooling, but many families need outside help for the junior and senior high level courses. Many overseas families need an alternative to boarding schools, and many schools would benefit from being able to expand their class offerings via online classes. With NorthStar Academy, all of these needs can be met.

Many overseas families are dealing with the issues concerning their children's education. For many, if these issues do not have an acceptable solution, their overseas service may be suspended, if not completely removed. Because our commitment to family should be the number one priority (1 Tim 5:8), we must address the issue of providing a quality education to our children. For many years, the solutions to education needs were home schooling, boarding school, and relocation - each of which carried its own costs, both emotional and physical.

Enter NorthStar Academy. NorthStar Academy exists to partner with families, schools, and agencies to ensure that there is an alternate solution to limited education options. Our solution allows the family to remain in the geographical location of their choosing AND be involved in their children's education because with NorthStar, the school comes to the student, wherever they are!

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CURRICULUM, COURSES AND TEXTBOOKS

NorthStar Academy teachers have created for NSA a unique curriculum guide, which reflects our mission and vision and which engages their strong Christian worldview to present a combination of national and state standards within each subject.

NorthStar Academy offers the core classes of English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and P.E./Health while offering elective courses such as Spanish, Computer Applications, and Christian Foundations. NorthStar Academy uses textbooks from publishers such as Apologia, Saxon, Prentice Hall, Glencoe, Canon Press, Thomson, Addison-Wesley and A Beka. NorthStar students will need to buy the class materials (textbooks, workbooks, DVD's, etc.) from either our online bookstore or from bookstores or distributors of their own choosing. All new students also receive the “NSA 101 Orientation” DVD which contains a set of multi-media video tutorials designed to help the student and parent get started with our online program, to get from opening the package of class materials to installing the software to communicating with the teachers and fellow students.

Teachers have created their own lessons based on the assumption that students will read and complete the lessons and assignments on a computer. These e-lessons are rich in multi-media, graphics, and hyperlinks, so the lessons will not always work well in a hard-copy printed format.

SCHOOL & COURSE START DATES

NorthStar Academy has two official start dates for the 2008-2009 school year: August 11th and August 25th. Students may begin on either of these two start dates, and actually, they may begin anytime on or after August 11th, which is the “early-bird” start date. The “official” first week of school will begin on Aug. 25th.

Students who register after Sept. 15th may only register for the first semester of a full year course (1.0 credit course), and they may not register for any of the 1st semester 0.5 credit courses. However, these same students may register for any of the 2nd semester 0.5 credit courses. These students, once they complete the first semester of a year-long class, may then enroll in the second semester of the class.

New students receive an orientation and training video and documents called "NorthStar 101", and we strongly urge new students to register with NSA early enough so that we may ship the materials to them in time for them to review NorthStar 101 fully one week prior to their chosen start date. The lead time will help the new student get acclimated to our online environment well ahead of that first day of classes and will give us all time to work out any initial bumps and bugs that would cause frustration and anxiety before school actually begins.

SCHOOL & COURSE COMPLETION DATES

NorthStar exists to help meet the needs of families and schools, many of whom are overseas, and our policy promotes flexibility within reason. We do not have "due dates" in the traditional sense of the term. Rather, we have suggested turn-in dates which are offered to students to help them gauge their pace so that they may finish their year-long class within the traditional 9-month schedule (for year-long classes) and within the respective semester (Fall or Spring for one-semester-only classes). However, if the student needs more time than the 9-month schedule affords for a year-long class, he/she will have an automatic extension time of about 3 weeks (extending into the middle of June) in which to complete assignments and tests. If the student does not complete the year-long course by the end of the extended time period, he/she will have the option of re-enrolling in that course for the following school year and have the opportunity to complete the remaining portion of the course during the following school year or semester. For the student who is taking a one-semester course, the extension is for 2 weeks after the official end of the respective semester.

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SOFTWARE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

NorthStar provides each student with the conferencing (client) software called "FirstClass" produced by the FirstClass division of Open Text (www.firstclass.com). NorthStar Academy supports both Macintosh and Windows computers. All students will receive the “NorthStar Resource DVD set” which contains all of the freeware software that students will need for their classes as well as lesson documents and resources which are too large to download from the internet. See the individual class descriptions for the details of any class-specific software requirements.

Students must provide for their own copy of Microsoft Office 97 or newer which includes Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Students, parents, schools, and supervisors must be prepared to accept the responsibility for knowing how to competently use a computer’s operating system and its software applications and must maintain the functionality of their own computer. While NSA will offer as much technical support as possible via email and phone, the ultimate responsibility for technical support rests with the family, school, or supervisor.

NorthStar students may also receive technical support via the real-time and remote computer access software of WebEx. WebEx allows the NorthStar technical support staff to remotely access your computer, with your permission(!), as you and the technical support staff person talk on the phone. This remote access support is for software support that is directly related to the FirstClass software. NorthStar tech support does not give service related to the student’s home network, firewall, modem, or other such items.

REGISTERING AND GETTING STARTED

Students may register in both NorthStar Academy and in NorthStar HomeSchool & Independent Study (HIS) classes. When a student decides to register for a course(s) with NorthStar Academy and/or NorthStar HIS, he/she can...

1. register for the class(es) via our secure online registration site. Click HERE to link to the registration page. Payment and shipping options are offered within this registration process.
2. order the class materials from our custom-created online bookstore that is run by MBS Direct. Click HERE to link to the online bookstore. Some class resources are created by NorthStar teachers and are thus not available from commercial vendors, so students will buy such resources (i.e. math video tutorials created by our math teacher) directly from NorthStar Academy, and NorthStar Academy will automatically include such resources and invoice for these resources in the student's registration process.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

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GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

For a student to fulfill the graduation requirements, he/she must complete, as a minimum, the following number of credits.

*Specific courses and overall GPA are required. The "USA Government" and "USA Economics" classes, both one semester in duration, are in addition to the stated 3.0 credits in Social Studies as the above list of required credits shows.
**An elective is any class that is not specifically required or that is over-and-above the requirements for graduation.

NSA offers 12th grade students several options by which they may earn a
diploma through NSA, so please click HERE to download the document which
specifies the GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS with regard to credits along with
the several DIPLOMA OPTIONS that we offer at NorthStar Academy.

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DIPLOMA SPECIALIZATION OPTIONS

Students may choose to work toward earning one of the following diplomas (contact us for the details):

1. Standard diploma (22 credits)
2. Advanced diploma (24 credits)
3. Advanced diploma with specialization: Biblical Studies
4. Advanced diploma with specialization: Business
5. Advanced diploma with specialization: Computer Science
6. Advanced diploma with specialization: History
7. Advanced diploma with specialization: Science

CLASS RINGS AND DIPLOMA ITEMS

All NorthStar Academy students may purchase class rings (gold or silver) which have been custom-made with the NorthStar Academy logo by ChristianClassRing.com.

Students may also choose to purchase their class ring through any of the following companies:

• Balfour
• Jostens
• Gordon International
• ArtCarved Class Rings
• Herff Jones

Students may also order and purchase their diploma documents and protective display booklets directly from NorthStar Academy.

TRANSFER CREDITS

NorthStar Academy will readily accept transfer credits from other schools which are accredited by the State Department of Education, Department of Defense, a church diocese, and/or the regional accrediting association.

NSA will accept credits from non-accredited programs if the following criteria are met. Contact the school for more details.

1. Credit by Examination
   A student can “challenge” a course by taking what we at NSA call a “challenge exam”. This exam will cover all of the course objectives which the students who have enrolled in and completed the course have learned and been tested on. The student’s transcript will show the credit along with the exam grade for this course, and the transcript will show that the student earned the credit via a placement test. Cost is $40 per test.
2. Credit from Home School and Alternative Learning
   The student will need to either take some form of objective assessment/test to gauge his/her proficiency for the particular course for which he/she is seeking credit or submit to NSA specific documentation. Contact the school for more details.

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PLANNING YOUR SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

Download the NorthStar Academy school calendar.

The total NorthStar Academy school year runs from early August to mid June (see the above section, SCHOOL & COURSE START DATES for exact dates), and this total time period includes almost 40 weeks of school days. Within this 40 week school operating calendar, which does not include the days of the holiday periods of Christmas and Spring Break, students will have 36 weeks of lessons and assignments to complete. So, in effect, we have inserted a 36 week lesson and assignment schedule into a 40 week school calendar, thus giving students a total of 4 weeks of “extra” time to complete their lessons, assignments, and tests. Students may begin their courses on one of our two official starting dates and progress through their 36 week lesson schedule according to their own pace (within parameters stated in our policy document).

Students, be cautious in taking 6 credits worth of academically rigorous classes in one school year. Please consider taking 4 rigorous credits of classes while taking 2 “lighter” elective credits. NSA is academically challenging, and previous students have indicated to the staff that the above-mentioned combination of classes works well.

GRADING SCALE

NSA uses the following grading scale for class averages: 100-90: A, 80-89: B, 70-79: C, 60-69: D, and 0-59: F. Transcripts report both the numerical grade averages and the grade point averages, which are based on a 4.0 scale.