A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education)
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| Motto | Reaching the world for Christ, one child at a time |
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| Formation | 1970 |
| Type | Christian education |
| Headquarters | Hendersonville, Tennessee |
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Membership
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Worldwide |
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Official language
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English, Spanish, Filipino (Philippines only) |
| Website | www.aceministries.com |
Accelerated Christian Education is an American company which produces the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) school curriculum structured around a literal interpretation of the Bible and which teaches other academic subjects from a Protestant fundamentalist or conservative Evangelical standpoint. Founded in 1970 by Donald and Esther Howard, ACE´s website states it is used in over 6,000 schools in 145 countries. ACE has been criticized for its content, heavy reliance on the use of rote recall as a learning tool and for the educational outcomes of pupils on leaving the Accelerated Christian Education system both in the US and the United Kingdom.
Accelerated Christian Education was founded in 1970 by Donald and Esther Howard. They set about developing a biblically literalist educational curriculum with Donald Howard traveling to promote ACE schools around the world as a new form of "educational mission".
The first school which used the ACE program opened in Garland, Texas and started with 45 students. By 1980 there were over 3,000 Christian schools in the United States associated with ACE, reaching 8,000 during the 1980s.
In 1996 ACE opened a three-story facility in Lewisville, Texas to handle its growing operations. Esther took over control of ACE the following year. She remains as ACE's President, and Duane Howard, one of the couple's sons, currently serves as Vice President. In 2007 ACE moved its corporate offices to Hendersonville, Tennessee. The Lewisville facility remains as ACE's distribution center.
As of January 2017 there are 26 schools using the ACE curriculum registered in the United Kingdom. In October 2016 ten schools graded by British parliamentary education inspectors OFSTED were revisited following concerns of mistreatment raised in British press, nine of which were subsequently re-graded as 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' by the watchdog.
According to the curriculum section on its website, ACE’s "core curriculum is an individualized, Biblically-based, character-building curriculum package" and is based on a series of workbooks called PACEs (Packets of Accelerated Christian Education). At the beginning of each PACE is an overview, a scripture to memorize, a character trait to strive toward, and information on what, if any, supplies the student will need. Each subject has 12 PACEs per grade level. The basic subjects of ACE are mathematics (yellow), English (red), Literature & Creative Writing (light red), Word Building/Etymology (purple), science (blue), social studies (green), Old and New Testament (orange). Students in the Philippines also study Filipino (pink), and Araling Panlipunan (brown). A new student is given a placement test and the results place the student at appropriate levels by subject. Students are required to set daily goals for work completion and are generally expected to finish a given PACE within two to three weeks (depending on the school). Students are given reviews at certain points in a PACE (called "check-ups") and a test at its culmination. The passing score for the test can be from 80% to 90%, also depending on the corresponding school. Students who fail must take what measures the school provides to pass the PACE.
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