Elmwood Baptist Academy uses a nontraditional approach to learning once a student reaches the 5th grade. This approach has been proven to be very effective in training up students to be leaders. Students leave Elmwood Baptist Academy ready for their next step of life, wherever that may be. The program that we use is Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.). One of the distinctives that makes A.C.E. preferable is that the basic learning tool is a PACE rather than a textbook. Before we discuss the superiority of PACEs, let’s answer a commonly asked question: “What does ‘PACE’ stand for?”
PACE is an acronym for Packet of Accelerated Christian Education. In the A.C.E. program, students work in PACEs through the twelfth grade level. Each academic subject for each level consists of 12 PACEs, and each student should complete a minimum of 60-72 PACEs in a school year. Let me give you an example:
In a traditional school setting, a student in given a textbook that contains all of the information that the student is supposed to learn for that year and that subject. The textbook was written by highly educated people and those people have determined this is what that student should learn. The textbook flows through a school board to the teacher. The teacher teaches that textbook, but has many constraints placed upon him or her. Time, money, student ability, test grades, teacher desire, etc. all weigh in to how much of the textbook is actually taught to the student. On average, a student will actually learn approximately 50% of what the original textbook authors determined should be learned. This type of approach to learning is failing.
A PACE was written by highly educated people and those people have determined this is what that student should learn. However, instead of the teacher determining what should and should not be taught, the PACE was written in such a way that the student learns all of the information. The student must pass each test with an 80% or above in order to move forward. If the student fails the test (receives an 80% or below), he or she must repeat the matieral until they master the concepts. This mastery based approach to learning creates a far superior academic experience for the student.
Some notable features basic to PACEs are:
- Bite-sized units of self-instructional material enhanced with illustrations and examples.
- Specific, understandable goals for the student to read before he begins work.
- Controlled vocabulary with pronunciations and definitions.
- Appropriate activities for drill, practice, and mastery of each concept.
- Checkups, score strips, and a Self Test for assessment and learning control.
- Character story features for Biblical character patterning.
- Scripture and wisdom principles that provide encouragement and guidance.
So, why are PACEs better than textbooks? Here are a few reasons:
- Students see tangible results of their progress. Each time a student successfully completes a PACE, he gets a new academic PACE with new character stories to spark his interest. It’s something to get excited about and something to which he can look forward. A new PACE is tangible evidence that the child has climbed another rung on his academic ladder.
- PACEs teach responsibility in ways textbooks cannot. Controls are built in. The student completes activities, Checkups, and the Self Test, and he does his own scoring and makes his own corrections. He knows when and how to review and prepare himself for testing. He experiences success and learns the importance of doing things right!
- PACEs are geared to mastery learning. Children have a limited attention span and a restricted capacity for grasping new concepts. They need to have new material introduced in bite-sized pieces; then they practice the concept and test themselves to see if they really understand the new material. A textbook is not designed to allow a student to catch his academic breath but keeps putting more and more information into his mental processing network.
- PACEs not only provide instruction at the child’s maturity level; they also allow him to learn and master concepts.
- PACEs provide self-instruction and mastery along with individualization. To achieve any degree of success, most textbooks require a teacher to interpret and explain the information. The teacher usually provides the examples and drills. Information is given, not on an individual basis, but to a whole class of children who have different capabilities and learning styles. PACEs, on the other hand, introduce one concept at a time, and each concept is visualized and illustrated by examples. Before he moves on to the activities, the student can go back over the information and examples until he understands them. No other students are held up while he gains mastery, and he is not held back by the rest of the class when he grasps concepts quickly. He learns on his own at the pace that he is capable of attaining.
Yes, A.C.E. is distinctively different … and BETTER!
For more information about ACE and to see why it is one of the best approaches to learners, click here.