North Star Online School

4
8 reviews
Grades
K-12
Students
811
Type
Public

Community Reviews

Read what parents are saying about North Star Online School
As someone who has been a student at North Star Online School over the past year, I am basing this review off of my own personal experience from a year effected by Covid-19. Considering the huge increase of students attending the last couple of years due to the pandemic, and issues with not getting enough staff, I think that this is a good school, though the curriculum the school is using is definitely in need of improvement.Whether this school is appropriate for anyone that is considering it, I believe it truly depends on how the student would work in an online environment. It can be convenient when it comes to needing to work at your own pace and when you need to, especially when you are in something that requires participation during school hours. Depending on your situation, it could be a good or bad choice. I came to this school because of my social anxiety, and I think it has given me a lot of opportunities to develop in my personal life, so I appreciate having the choice to attend North Star. When I was in public school, all that mattered was getting passing grades and surviving, but here I have been able to improve mentally, while also taking time to actually learn and care about my education. (Again, this is from my own experience, this does not apply to everyone). Learning:We have tons of reading at this school, and it can be a lot of work for everyone. It is not the easiest, but the teachers that I have, have been very helpful through live lessons and try to make themselves available through office hours and webmail, and we have a lot of outside resources to help us. Certain electives come to be challenging, though those are getting removed next school year.Teaching:The best part about this school so far for me has to have been the teachers and staff that I have made contact with; they make the content a lot easier and help whenever I need it. They have been very understanding and motivating. Social-emotional support:My teachers seem to care, and I can always schedule meetings with the counselor. The grade aspect can be stressful of course, but this is a part of every school. As for the social interaction, we do not have many of these opportunities due to covid.Special Education and safety:I do not have enough experience with these areas to give an opinion. Family Engagement:They definitely encourage learning coaches to take part in our education here at North Star.Thank you for taking the time to read this. :)
Posted by a student on 5/4/2022
It was good at first, but not now. Only the O.T. is keeping us in this school at this point.
Posted by a parent on 9/12/2018
This school has given me more opportunities at a bigger future than brick and mortar school could have ever provided me. Not only do they provide amazing help with something you don't understand, they are undeniably and truly concerned with our mental health. The staff do not hesitate to help out if they can. I feel so blessed to have grown and have the chance to graduate with this school. Thank you North Star Staff.
Posted by a student on 1/25/2017
North Star had a 90% graduation rate for 2016. Staff work incredibly hard to assist every student in realizing their goals. They truly care about every student's success and are able to support students individual needs. If you are looking for a school that can support your student's individual needs, check out North Star!
Posted by a community member on 12/9/2016
As other reviewers note, there are some issues with the connections curriculum, and the Brain Pops are a waste of time. There are easy solutions, however, to all the issues mentioned below, most of which I have not encountered, and I am on my second child in Northstar High School. The solution to BrainPop is skip them. They are silly. Unlike a brick school, no one knows/cares if you watch every video and complete every worksheet so long as you learn the material. If you want to use other resources instead, you are welcome to do so. In fact, the dashboard page has links to a number of useful resources such as Khan Academy. The main issue I encounter is a common one with other curricula as well, namely, the questions where the student is to pick the "best" answer. This is a judgement call. But my experience has been that if an answer is marked wrong that you believe should be correct, you contact the teacher, identify the test, explain why you think your answer is correct, and if you have a good logical reason, the student can generally get the points back. The students can contact connections with comments about confusing parts and ask that the curiculum be clarified. As one student review points out, the internet changes, but that also means the school is not locked into what has been printed until the next edition comes out. All the teachers are available for on-site help throughout the day. Mrs Voth is Great!. Re the math comment, it is sometimes useful in math to make changes to both sides of an equation to make them easier to solve. The math teacher is not always as clear as he might be in explaining math to those who find math perplexing, although #2 son has no more dificulty with him than with any brick math techer he's had. I never found particluar plethora of unnecessary emails. I recommend the school for kids who like to move at something of their own pace (they only nag you if you don't do at least one lesson per class per week), don't like getting up at horrific hours of the morning to catch the school bus, are the subject of bullying, or have other issues with more traditional schools.
Posted by a community member on 4/10/2016
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Reno schools - North Star Online School is located at 5450 Riggins Court, Reno NV 89502. North Star Online School is in the Washoe County School District. North Star Online School is a Public school that serves grade levels K-12.

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