Went to school here. I liked it. Great teachers.

The $25 dollar charge to get your phone back is against the law.

I had high expectations about this school when i first arrived. there are a few teachers that care for me and my future, however i’ve been contemplating leaving even if it meant leaving with only one year of high school left. the art instructor is amazing and one of my closest friends. the school does damage my mental health. i always thought that it was due to my own lack of discipline. i’ve soon come to realize that nwaca had the highest expectations with academics and behavior while treating even seniors as 6th graders.the new high school headmaster is one of nwaca’s infamous steps downhill. he is invasive and unprofessional; pulling me out of class to talk about my personal life that does not affect the school, asking a 16 year old girl to close the door of his office so she could involuntarily talk about personal matters when i hadn’t talked to him once before hand.i’ve had my skirt tugged at, hat pulled off and told to “run along to class”at the age of 17. i was hoping as a junior i would be treated less like an elementary student. multiple students find themselves cold in classrooms because we are not allowed to wear even a school hoodie but an expensive $50 jacket that hardly gives much warmth. girls stressing about ordering the right size skirt on top of the stress of their education just to be told it’s not appropriate. i’ve been told from across the hall in between class that the teacher can see things they shouldn’t from under my skirt. i find that highly inappropriate and disgusting. it’s embarrassing and my own mother isn’t comfortable with that; even after defending this school for years. i’m not sure i want to sacrifice my mental health for an “exceptional education” anymore.a teacher i personally admired and looked up to was fired for not wearing a tie everyday to school. he was always nicely dressed wearing a button up with slacks or something just like that. he had an amazing mind and inspired me and my classmates. i highly suggest the school pays some attention to that school honor code that we recite every morning.

In my opinion, there are three things that make a school great: it’s curriculum, it’s teachers, and it’s administration. NWACA has a great curriculum, so there’s no need to focus on that. It’s the other two in which I believe NWACA has recently begun falling in, and my intuition tells me that these two things are linked together. An unnecessary number of amazing teachers have either been driven out or directly fired, and I feel the administration is to a large part to blame. Do I think the school is doomed? Absolutely not. But I can see that the school that I was once proud of graduating from is slowly losing its reputation, and if something does not change, I fear for the upcoming NWACA students.

One teacher I never got to really know was Mr. Offord. But once I took a quiz for another teacher in his class, and I was struggling very hard. I get stressed taking tests to the point where sometimes I feel like I might burst into tears. It’s just who I am. But Mr. Offord taught me something that was extremely helpful that day. I spent not even 30 minutes in his classroom and he taught me how to think when I thought I couldn’t. To push past “I can’t” when it comes to something academic.My senior year, I showed up late time to time because getting myself and my 3 younger siblings to school each day could be tricky. Kids forget things, take a while to get ready, want to give mom one last kiss, etc. and so time to time I would be tardy. Maybe 5-10 minutes. I had a 100% in the class that I showed up late to. I was always a 4.0 or above student. My work was always turned in. My teachers knew I had a very tight schedule due to work and Athletics. I had a teacher tell me that I would be failed for showing up a bit late from time to time in a class they did not even teach. It was not their concern and it was also a lie. I had a good grade and they exaggerated the amount I would miss very heavily. I told the teacher that I would not fail and if they wanted to press that matter with the very little absences I had as well as the high grade I had, they would at least need to speak to my mom, who would say no. The teacher said this was not the case, and that they could and would fail me if I missed class. Our new assistant headmaster overheard this conversation, and pulled me out of class to teach ME a lesson about respect. He spoke to me as if he had consistently had issues with me, or that I had always caused my teachers trouble, even though he had no idea who I was. It was especially uncalled for because I was a senior and had been there a very long time and never had issues with any of the administrators or teachers previous. I have done a lot for this school and my teachers would tell you I am a good student. I simply said that if he would like the students to show more respect, the teachers should be taught to show the student respect first, and not threaten & lie to them.But recently it has been revealed to me that our headmaster was the one needing a lesson in respect, as he fired Mr. Offord in front of his students. The reason of his firing was due to the fact that he did not wear a tie. Mr. Offord was always dressed very nicely, and if something as small as a tie is what caused him to be fired, I personally feel like a headmaster who doesn’t take up for a student being threatened and lied to, rather talks down to her and calls her disrespectful should be evaluated.Additionally, a teacher I had, Mr. Horswell, put the most effort into this school and was always put down. Under-appreciated. He is no longer employed there, but was the light of the school.Previous to all of the mess that occurred recently, I would simply like to say I have the greatest appreciation for the teachers I had and the school itself. When people ask me, I am constantly advocating for the school because it shaped me in a very positive way. But it is and has been going downhill slowly.I have graduated and I am grateful for my time and the people at northwest Arkansas classical academy, and the bond I had with my teachers will forever be with me, but the negativity and mistreatment of the staff that has slowly been arising in our school leaves a very bad feeling in me for the future students.

I have had a great experience in NWACA. My daughter is challenged to learn and grow. When we talked about going to this school my daughter was not into it, but as she started attending she realized that was a great decision. Now, she loves the school, her friends and the opportunities she gets by showing leadership and learning. We enrolled our second daughter to start Kindergarten this coming year.Yes, it is hard to get in. It was not until the second year trying that we got our oldest daughter in. And she was the #10 in the waiting list. I kept calling everyday during summer to see if there was any change on her status until finally one day I received the call. We have been blessed. Love the school and I feel it was the best decision we made.

NWACA is a great school. It has grown over the past years with number of students, courses and athletics. Students are provided a well rounded education that not only focuses on academics but character development as well.

Both my kids actually want to go to school..and I’m happy they are there! My daughter has been attending since 2nd grade (5th now) she thrives here and is challenged but encouraged as well. Its a great fit. My son who we were hesitant to move due to his friendships, focus issues and goofiness (typical boy) has really matured and found his fit. He does much better here than in District school. It is more structured and more is expected of him and he has risen to the demands. He participates in conversations now and has a lot to offer (history.. science..really amazing difference. It’s like he just blended in at District school, here he stands out). There is homework, there is parental involvement, sometimes administrative issues can be frustrating but when you sit back and look at everything, you can realize that these teachers and administrators are working tirelessly for your kids and as a charter school, they have to do a lot more with less $$ so they don’t have the means to hire extra administrative staff. I’ve been impressed with the teachers and the curriculum (foundation for learning and thinking... not just data fed to them). It’s small and the teachers really get to know the kids which is great when there is a problem, it’s easier to deal with. My experience is that they encourage parental involvement in their education and there are opportunities to volunteer, if you can. They have awesome field trips for the younger kids especially. Lots of after school clubs like running, robotics, art. Sports is growing but the focus is more on academics. Music is growing as well. It’s a great school. Only thing that I could see as a significant problem for someone is no transportation currently but many people carpool. Bonus: no rezoning. School goes from K-12! Thank you NWACA.

My daughter attended NWACA this year after 7 years of homeschooling. Ive been so excited to see her advance and grow this year. The teachers here are amazing. They give personal attention to the kids and really take the time to get to know them and care about the kids.

Have heard many good things about this school. Whats the process to get your child admitted here?

My children where apart of the first years of this school. The experience they had has hindered them significantly. Our daughter is now several years down the road to afraid to learn anything. She can’t stop crying when her teacher wants to talk to her. She is afraid because of something that was done to her at this school. We went here hoping for a higher education for our children. Now we have 2 children afraid to learn anything with forever damaged educations. Disappointed when we were apart of it, tried to chalk it up to first year wrinkles. Today as I sit here holding a daughter I knew there was something wrong with this place I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

The truth is:The classical approach is a great learning method. The curriculum is harder than average but not rocket science. Expect at least 1 hour of homework every night and weekends, most likely 2 and you will be very involved in helping your child with all subjects and managing their schedule/test preparation. Dont believe the 30 minute homework speech that they will learn everything in class. There are times that some of the assignments are purely to maintain a heavy workload and waste time that could be spent on more important areas. There are times the staff lookup and decide we need to cram 1 month of learning into 1 week to catch up. They expect very young students (e.g. 3rd grade) to learn in class by taking notes (could you effectively learn this way in high school?). Many of the teachers are angry people, overworked, underpaid, with limited guidance on the curriculum. As a result they demand almost complete silence at all times especially at lunch. The children hardly ever have the opportunity to be a kid, so most of the children come home stressed and angry to do homework. All this and the test scores are barely higher than the best public schools, so I suppose it kind of works despite itself.

This is a great school, the teachers and parents are caring and involved and the school teaches great academics, but also ethics and being of good moral character.

Very bad lottery system, not fair at all. Tonight we attended the lottery for the school. Not recommended at all. UNLESS YOU KNOW SOMEBODY FROM THE SCHOOL, that way you will gurantee the slot

Im still as dumb as ever after attending this school

This school has changed greatly of the years