In the 1960s, many students were not performing at their grade levels. This fact compelled many to question the very structure of the conventional educational system. With the Lord’s guidance, A.C.E. addressed these concerns and designed a Biblically based educational program geared to meet the learning needs of individual children. This unique program consists of mastery-based curriculum and materials that are self-instructional, character building, and individually prescribed.

Whether the student is a high achiever, a moderately paced learner, or a slow learner, the A.C.E. educational process begins at the exact level determined by the child’s ability. This is individualization, making it possible for each student to master the subject matter before moving on. Such mastery is the foundation upon which all future learning is built.

Today, 200 staff members provide training services, curriculum, and materials for an international network of 6,000 schools and thousands of home educators in over 140 countries.

Five Laws of Learning

The educational concept of A.C.E. was built on five basic laws of learning:

• Students must be at subject levels where they can perform.
• Students must set reasonable goals.
• Students must be controlled and motivated.
• Learning must be measurable.
• Learning must be rewarded.

Diagnosis and Prescription

Are your students really mastering basic math, English, social studies, science, and spelling skills? Could there be some learning gaps that have not been identified? A.C.E. diagnostic testing begins with simple concepts and continues through more advanced abstract thinking. Successful completion of this diagnostic testing indicates readiness for high school level curriculum.

A doctor must diagnose a patient’s physical needs before prescribing proper treatment. In much the same way, a student’s academic needs must be diagnosed before proper curriculum can be prescribed. Proper academic diagnosis and prescription is vital to a student’s achievement.

Each student entering the A.C.E. program is given diagnostic tests to determine skill and concept mastery. The diagnostic tests assist the evaluator in determining the student’s academic needs in each subject. After the student completes the diagnostic testing, he is given curriculum that meets and challenges him at his performance level.

Diagnostic placement testing ensures that students begin at the exact point of their academic needs. Additionally, diagnostic testing determines if there are any “learning gaps.” Students can simply fill in the “learning gaps” without the stigma of “failing” a grade or falling behind.

Academic tests include math, English, spelling, and reading (Bible, Literature and Creative Writing, science, and social studies). These tests cover basic skills normally mastered before high school.

If weak areas are evident from the testing, the appropriate gap PACEs are prescribed to strengthen specific weaknesses. After completing the gap PACEs, the student progresses at his performance level. If he demonstrates mastery at all levels of testing, he has the ability to function at his chronological grade level in the high school curriculum.

Academic Achievement is one of the greatest strengths of Accelerated Christian Education. Graduated from the A.C.E program are attending more than 1,050 colleges and universities globally with outstanding performance.

Conventional educational programs take the student through a spiral of material while introducing him to new skills in sequence. Since students are grouped chronologically, they are lock-stepped and receive the same material in the same time. However, students do not necessarily all have the same level of maturity as others of their chronological age, and their natural learning rates are not lock-stepped with other students. As the gtoup uniformly passes from skill to skill in the spiral, the students’ actual learning is relative and their achievement varies. The result is that the above-average student may master the skill the first time he is exposed to it, the average student may pick up part of it, and the below-average student will often grasp only a minimum amount or fail to understand it entirely. As the spiral countinues, some students stay out in front while others are left behind for a season (or for good).

The A.C.E. program is designed around a new format: that of building skill upon skill. The scope and sequence ignores the concept of grade level and moves with continuous progress beginning with the first skill to be mastered. Depending on their ability and motivation levels, students may move ahead rapidly or take as long as necessary, but each student masters the material. Students are not locked into a group but progress through the skills as they are mastered.

As the student moves upward, level after level, and the spiral comes around again, he is far better prepared to learn because he has mastered the skill on the previous level. He does not advance until he has mastered each concept. He is not lock-stepped with his classmates but is learning individually and completely before advancing. A.C.E. implements the best of both methods in a unique and effective system.

Because of ites excellent track record of positive results, the A.C.E. curriculum is widely used to assist slow learners. Even with these students’ score averaged in, achievement levels of A.C.E. programs consistently hit the top of the academic spectrum. These results demonstrate that building a strong base of mastery in basic skills enables students to move ahead in each subject.