Accelerated Christian Education (ACE)
Overview
Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curricula originated in the United States. 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. 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. The ACE curriculum is offered from nursery, pre-primary (8 years) to high school (4 years). In practice, each learner progresses through these stages on his/her own pace, with some taking longer and others fewer years to complete grade 12. At grade 12, they sit for University entrance examination (including Scholastic Aptitude Test – SAT).
Curriculum objectives
The entire ACE system is designed to develop a student with Christian values and a specific character, whose attributes include integrity; goal orientation, creativity and innovativeness, confidence, communication skills, self belief (locus of control) and independence, etc in addition to the conventional or mainstream curricula objectives, such as mastery of mathematics, language, sciences, social studies, etc
Approach
Under the ACE curricula, learners are not taught by teachers. Rather they are provided with structured learning materials called “Packets of Accelerated Christian Education (PACES) and guided by monitors and supervisors (not teachers) to set and achieve learning goals. Some of the specific features are as follows:
· Every student plans/decides what he/she intends to do in a week and how many subjects and paces she/he will cover in a day and for the whole week.
· Learners progress at their own pace, depending on intelligence, discipline, health, psychological stability, etc. and not according to age. Graduation happens every day, from one place to another.
· Every week, every student prepares and makes a presentation (oral report) about anything being academic, social, economic, or a story. The monitor will assess the presentation on content, voice, gestures, language, and confidence. Students are also given a lot of independent projects through which they learn by doing/discovery
· Learners initially mark their own work using score keys teaching them faithfulness and integrity, before more comprehensive assessment of mastery of specific competencies is done by their supervisors.
· Students are allowed to bring anything for sale on special events of the school and gain money.
· Within the learning centre, each student sits in a cubicle called an office, containing all materials for study. Every week a supervisor will pass to assess neatness of the office and award some marks. Each learning room has a monitor and a supervisor, whose job is to respond to requests for support from the learners. If a student needs assistance or guidance, he/she raise a flag, then the monitor or supervise will go and listen to his/her problem. Because each learner is essentially learning on his/her own not depending on teachers oftenly , learners at different educational levels may (and often do) share a learning centre.
· Parents (both) must attend a three hour orientation on the philosophy and process of the school before making the decision to enroll children. They are required to attend parenting skills seminars (specific for children of different age groups) organized by the school so that they can support the learning outcomes sought by the curricula, at home. Students must stay with parents as they study at the school (it is a day school).
· Their text books contain different wise sayings (proverbs) which re-enforce some behavior to the students. For example; be punctual: “when I’m on time, it shows how much I care about the other person. When I’m on time, it shows how that thing is important, so I’ll always be on time.”
Supervisors, monitors (these are trained, employed administrative assistants to the supervisors) and administrators must attend special training and be accredited, as well as refresher training every two years In addition, the school has a topic on career development in the social studies subject which helps students to have focus on what they intend to be in future, and how successful they want to be. So far, the curriculum, which is franchised from original developers in the USA and their agents in South Africa, is offered through home study for some expatriates and at Capstone Christian School in Dar Es Salaam.
ACE in other countries
Today, hundreds of staff members provide training services, curriculum, and materials for an international network of over 7,000 schools and thousands of home educators in over 145 countries.
ACE in Africa
ACE has been embraced by educators in many African countries, as it is increasingly been recognized as one of the possible answers to the challenges facing youth and the inability of the existing educational system to nurture positive values, so crucial to the future success of the learners and development of their communities in general. Until December 2011, the number of schools per country was as follows: Botswana (4), Gabon (1), Ghana (2), Kenya (30), Lesotho (4), Madagascar (2), Malawi (3), Mauritius (1), Mozambique (1), Namibia (19), Nigeria (208), South Africa (230), Swaziland (6) Tanzania (1), Uganda (1) Zambia (7), and Zimbabwe (22)
ACE in Tanzania
In Tanzania, there were three ACE learning centres; two home schools for expatriates and Capstone school is the oldest having started 2001. The number of students has gradually increased to reach 135 a total of 4 have graduated at grade 12. They have been sitting for the SAT at International School of Tanganyika (IST) and Heaven of Peace Academy (Hopac) with which Capstone has agreement to use their facilities. Their performance has been exemplary with 4 of the 4 winning scholarships to join American Universities.
Below is a summary of performance of past graduands
| Name | Year Graduated Grade 12 | Performance in SAT Exams | Performance in TOEFL Exams | When he/she is now |
| Gwamaka Mwambungu | 2009 | 2090 out of 2190 | 653 out of 667 | Colgate University, USA since 2010 |
| Rachel Magege | 2010 | 2010 out of 2400 | 647 out of 667 | Colgate University, since 2011 |
| Deogratius Magege | 2011 | 2110 out of 2400 | 637 out of 667 | To be in Colgate University 2012 |
| Gloria Magege | 2011 | 2030 out of 2400 | 633 out of 667 | To be in Grinnell College |
Conclusion
The ACE system is one of the possible ways of improving quality of education and can offer valuable lessons for other institutions in Tanzania. Although its outreach is likely to remain limited (just as that of Hopac, IST, Agha Khan, it deserves encouragement. The system also produces law abiding citizens, who are better prepared to make a difference whenever they will be.
Prepared by Dr. Donath R.Olomi – A parent at Capstone Christian School
