The NorthStar Narrative
The NorthStar Narrative
How State Voucher Programs Can Expand Your Educational Choices
Arkansas's AR Learns program provides homeschool families with funds that can be used for educational expenses, including NorthStar Academy's global online courses. As an approved service provider, NorthStar offers accredited curriculum aligned with state standards while connecting students with peers around the world, developing both academic knowledge and cross-cultural understanding.
• NorthStar Academy is now an approved service provider for Arkansas's EFA program
• Families can receive $1,716 per quarter beginning in the 2025-2026 school year
• Funds can be used for curriculum, specialized classes, educational field trips, and more
• Similar voucher programs exist in other states including Arizona and Florida
• Online learning develops executive functioning and communication skills for college readiness
• Global classroom experience connects students across multiple continents
• Dual accreditation through ACSI and Cognia ensures quality standards
For more information about NorthStar Academy, visit nsaschool.com or email info@nsa.school.
Hi, this is Stephanie Shafer and you're listening to the NorthStar Narrative, a podcast from NorthStar Academy. I want to thank you for joining us. I hope you're encouraged, challenged and motivated by what you learned today. Enjoy the story. Hey everybody, welcome back to the NorthStar Narrative. In our last episode, our principal, Katie Ahmadzai, shared insights into how Christian education is adapting to meet the unique needs of students worldwide. If you missed that discussion, I would encourage you to listen to it for a comprehensive understanding of NorthStar Academy's mission and offerings. Today we're continuing the conversation by exploring how state-level initiatives, particularly Arkansas' Education Freedom Account program, are expanding educational choices for families. We'll discuss what these changes mean for families considering NorthStar Academy and how they can navigate the new opportunities available to them. So thanks so much, Katie, for joining me for part two of this incredibly important conversation.
Katie Ahmadzai:Super glad to be able to be here and talk just a little bit about the school choice options that are out there, especially in my home state of Arkansas, that have just really rolled out to the general public for the 25-26 school year.
Stephanie Shafer:Yeah, Thanks so much, Katie, for spending time researching, investigating, praying through and just really able to bring us some good information today, but also helping us get on the list. So I'm going to let you tell everybody what the list is and why it's important let you tell everybody what the list is and why it's important.
Katie Ahmadzai:Great. Well, part of the school voucher program is kind of what it is. It's in Arkansas. Every state refers to their program a little bit differently. There are several states now that have some sort of educational. In Arkansas it's called an educational freedom account, an educational savings account in some states, vouchers in other states. Every state that is utilizing this program has set it up a little bit differently, based on what their state needs and based on research that's out there. So what we are excited about as a school is that we have been approved as a service provider for the state of Arkansas, which means that families who have enrolled in the Arkansas Learns program can actually now be reimbursed or use funds that they have in their educational freedom account through the class wallet program to pay NorthStar directly, even for some classes, and this really opens the door for a lot of homeschooling families in Arkansas that might need maybe just a little bit of extra support for a class or two.
Katie Ahmadzai:I know that sometimes being a homeschool mom can be really overwhelming Keeping track of all of the work for your kiddos, especially as they get older into high school. Maybe they're taking some AP courses or some upper level courses in subject areas where mom's area of expertise is a little limited. That would, for me, that would be the English area I would be like. I want some extra help in this course, and Northstar is here to be able to come alongside of homeschooling families and offer a course or two, or as many as needed to be able to supplement what's going on at home. And now there's even an option for reimbursement, like I said, or being able to pay through your savings your educational freedom savings account.
Stephanie Shafer:Yeah, super excited about all the opportunities this is opening and hopefully families will be able to check us out and start with maybe one course, just like Katie said, or two, see how your student does in online courses and give them the opportunity to be challenged and exposed to the online world so important. All right, can you tell us a little bit more, for those that might be wondering about some details, of the amounts that are available specifically, and what steps do they need to do to enroll their student?
Katie Ahmadzai:Sure. So, first of all, just the enrollment process is fairly simple. There's an application process. You can Google Arkansas Learns and that will take you directly to a site from the Arkansas Department of Education where there is a small form that you fill out, an application that you fill out and then, as a homeschool parent, you can be approved for those amounts. For the 25-26 school year they have announced that the allotment is going to be $1,716 per quarter. Thousand seven hundred sixteen dollars per quarter and that's for four quarters starting in August, and that allows the family to be able to spend that money on educational services, on curriculum, on classes.
Katie Ahmadzai:So a lot of different needs. If you need, if you're a homeschooling family and you need books, you can use it for books. If you are a homeschooling family and you want to take an educational field trip within the state of Arkansas, you can actually file to do that. If you need specialized classes for one of your students maybe they are struggling with dyslexia and they need coaching you can use that money for coaching. Again, as a homeschool family, it's basically the money that would have gone to the school system that your child would have attended is now available to you as a family, since you are doing the schooling, and so that's a significant amount of money and can really be used to supplement homeschooling and enrich a student's experience in homeschooling.
Stephanie Shafer:Yeah, thanks again, katie, for all of this incredible information. If you're listening right now and you know families in Arkansas, you're definitely going to want to share this podcast with them. But also, in a moment we're going to talk about other states, not just Arkansas. So, but before we do that, katie, will you tell us a little bit about how NorthStar curriculum is aligning for the requirements for the EFA program?
Katie Ahmadzai:aligning for the requirements for the EFA program. Sure, so to be able to be approved for the EFA program, they want to know that we're using quality standards and that we're an accredited school. So we're able to say that we are accredited by ACSI, association of Christian Schools International, as well as Cognia. Both are internationally recognized school accreditation organizations. They are on the list for Arkansas as approved accreditation organizations as well. We use standards that are very closely aligned to the Arkansas standards. In fact, we've gone to the Arkansas state standards a couple of times as we've written some of our courses, because they've written very clear standards that are nationally aligned. We feel like they are representative of what you would get at a national level for certain high school courses. That just helps for standardization, because if you're moving from one side of the country to the other side of the country, you want to be able to walk into an algebra class and know that they're going to be covering the same types of information.
Katie Ahmadzai:One other aspect that Arkansas Learns does require is that we are doing quality assessments as well as offer standardized assessments.
Katie Ahmadzai:So, of course, within our courses, we align our assessments to standards so that we can measure what students are learning and then as a school, we actually offer the MAP test, which can be provided online. It's a standardized, internationally recognized test for growth of student achievement over the years, and so what's great about that is that we offer that to all students at NorthStar, but it's required for students in sixth through ninth grade, and so students who are taking courses with us in English and math are then required to take that MAP test. We're able to track their learning and their growth. That gives us information on the quality of our program. It also gives parents information about the quality of the program. So if you are taking a class with us as a homeschool parent, you may be required to submit some sort of national testing to the state of Arkansas for each of your students. You can actually do that here at Northstar. You can do that through our map testing program, so we also have that kind of added bonus of what we can offer to families.
Stephanie Shafer:Yeah, and if you have more questions about that, you can reach out to us by email at any time. Always use our info at NSAschool email. We'll get you in touch with the right person as your questions come up. All right, let's talk about the other states, like we said. So if you're living in the US and you're not in Arkansas, is there hope for those families? What's going on across the US?
Katie Ahmadzai:Absolutely so. There are a broad variety of voucher programs or school choice programs across the United States. So the best thing that a parent can do is to go to their State Department of Education's website and do some investigation about the policies around the voucher systems, who they apply to, how to have access, how you can get access to money that may be available to you that you don't even know about. So two of the other states where the voucher system has been going fairly strong is Arizona and Florida. Fairly strong is Arizona and Florida. In both of those states they have a similar system where there are educational savings accounts and parents are able to spend that money as they decide on courses like Northstar.
Katie Ahmadzai:Different states have different ways about being refunded for that or how to pay with that money up front. That varies from state to state. So that is something that, again, I cannot emphasize enough that parents really have to do some due diligence in this. Not only does each state have a different process, sometimes those processes are changing, because each year, whenever the state legislature meets, sometimes there are some changes. So being able to find like a newsletter to be a part of, where you're getting updates about your state's funding program is really helpful. Finding groups on social media that are focused on this can be really helpful as homeschool families to make sure you have all the information you need to be able to make the best decisions for your family.
Stephanie Shafer:Yes, those are great tips, so pay attention and do your due diligence, get online, find the information you need for your state, and we'll be praying that it does pay off for each family and you'll get to have a broader selection for your student to learn. And so, as we wrap this up, katie, tell us a little bit about your vision for the future of online Christian education in light of these state-level initiatives and how NorthStar Academy is evolving to meet the needs of students and families.
Katie Ahmadzai:So something that I just have a heart for is that, just like variety is the spice of life, that exposing students to a variety of different types of learning experiences enriches them and prepares them for their future.
Katie Ahmadzai:And so, if you are a part of a homeschool family or a homeschool co-op, just thinking about NorthStar as an opportunity for your student to first of all be involved in an online school where they are developing some ownership of their learning, developing executive functioning skills, communication in an online platform those are great skills to be able to learn at this stage of life, before you get on into college.
Katie Ahmadzai:The extra bonus to me is the fact that NorthStar goes beyond just an online learning experience to the fact that you are interacting with students from around the world, and so you are impacting your worldview.
Katie Ahmadzai:Just by being a part of a NorthStar class, your students are going to be interacting with students on probably five or six different continents who are experiencing the world in very different ways and are going to be able to discuss what they see going on in the world with one another, and then your student is able to walk out into your community with a broader scope and a broader understanding of the world.
Katie Ahmadzai:They're going to be ready to make an impact not only in your community, with a broader scope and a broader understanding of the world. They're going to be ready to make an impact not only in your community, but they're going to be thinking about worldwide change as well, and so, to me, this is one more way of opening that door for students to have access to what very few students really get access to. You may, your student may never get the chance to study abroad, but they can have access to what other students are learning from their experience of being abroad and maybe develop relationships where you know, during the gap year, they decide to go to one of these countries and spend time serving in some way or learning in some way, and so that experience is very hard to replace, and I think that's what makes Northstar stand out beyond just any other educational service provider that's out there.
Stephanie Shafer:Yeah, Northstar is so unique and we're so proud of just those opportunities that our platform gives for students all over the world to interact. So if you want more information about Northstar, again, you can email us at info at nsaschool. Check out our website, nsaschool. There's lots of great information on there. And, again, do your due diligence and get involved in what's happening in your state, finding out more, researching and, yeah, in the legislation to help get these items passed for your students, your counties.
Stephanie Shafer:So remember, listen to the first podcast with Katie if you haven't, and share these podcasts to learn more about NorthStar, for your friends and family, to learn about what's happening in the states and especially in Arkansas. We're super excited about Arkansas and where we are heading. So pray for NorthStar, pray for Christian education and, of course, our families and students across the globe, that God would continue just to open these incredible doors and give so many fun opportunities. Don't miss what is happening, because it's really a good time, really a fun time, to be a part of Christian education. Thanks so much, katie, for joining us today.
Katie Ahmadzai:Always, always a blessing and love the opportunity to be able to share, yeah, great opportunities that are out there for students.
Stephanie Shafer:Thank you so much for listening today. If you have any questions for our guest or would like information about Northstar, please email us. At podcast at NSA dot school, we love having guests on our show and getting to hear their stories. If you have anyone in mind that you think would be a great guest to feature, please email us and let us know. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on upcoming stories.