(Adapted from a speech by Mr. Duane Howard at A.C.E.’s International Corporate Offices)
A.C.E. School of Tomorrow® was built upon a solid foundation when it started over 50 years ago. A.C.E.’s history is rich, and it is representative of God’s good hand of blessing upon it. While we will not forget our history, we will adapt to the future. Recently I heard someone say, “We need to be anchored to the Rock and geared to the times.” The ministry’s original vision in 1970 was “a Christian school in every Bible-believing church.” Since then, our vision has expanded, as expressed in our current motto, “Reaching the World for Christ . . . One Child at a Time®.” We can generally relate A.C.E.’s vision to our motto.
Imagine Christ with his arms stretched out wide—reaching for children. Let us be reminded of our Lord Who said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” (Mark 10:14) With Him as our example, we are reaching the world. That is what we do!
While A.C.E.’s curriculum was never designed to be an elitist program, it is accelerated and advanced. It was designed for everyone with its emphasis on individualization. It was created with every individual child in mind. And while our vision is focused on the individual, it is also broadened to encompass the world. “Reaching the World . . . .” There are several ways by which we are working intently to do just that.
We are making changes to our distribution processes. Global Advancement works together with different regions that have their own redistribution systems. They have their own customer service, school services, finance, and local curriculum development departments. We ship containers of PACEs to these entities who aid us in redistribution to more than 145 countries around the world.
While evaluating this arrangement, we have been looking for ways to increase our reach. These discussions led to the exploration of printing PACEs in some redistribution areas. About three years ago, we printed our first color 4th Edition PACEs in the Philippines. We did this not only to print within country but to create a new distribution hub with the intent to bring curriculum prices lower for countries beyond the Philippines. It was God-led as recent events in Russia have made it impossible to distribute curriculum from the United States to Russia. Subsequently, we have been able to get PACEs printed in the Philippines and delivered to Russia. It has been thrilling to watch the Lord open those doors for us and lead us in this path.
Another way we have been working to reach the world is through our e-curriculum. The primary reason we began developing ePACEs is for validation of the A.C.E. curriculum. We did not start producing aceconnect ePACEs so we could appear to be advanced or to show some exciting progress in technology. After all, technology is not what A.C.E. has been about since its founding. We believe that the addition of ePACE testing gives us the best option to validate the paper PACEs.
The second reason we developed the e-curriculum was for global distribution. There are still some places where we cannot deliver the paper PACEs. These ePACEs allow us to reach one more child in the world with a Christian education.
A.C.E. School of Tomorrow is reaching the world for Christ! Our curriculum is unashamedly Christian. Nothing thrills us more than to hear that a child using the PACEs, whether in a homeschool or school environment, gets to a PACE page that asks, “Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?” If the child says “no,” parents and supervisors have an opportunity to lead the child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Nothing thrills us more than that!
We continually look at every avenue whereby we can reach the world for Christ by adding more Scripture and character building into the A.C.E. program. That is our vision—to continue looking for ways to incorporate the message of salvation into the A.C.E. program. Ultimately we want children to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and reinforce in their lives the character traits of Jesus Christ.
While A.C.E. continues to add Scripture and character building, there is no room in the materials for critical race theory or the gender ideology that is being promoted in the world today. Instead, we are “Reaching the World for Christ . . . One Child at a Time.” We are reaching the world with Biblical individualization. Our desire is to help each child understand that he was created as an individual, in the image of God, as a child of God, but not as an independent thinker separate from God.
The A.C.E. program has a number of hallmarks, such as mastery-based learning and individualization. Anyone affiliated with A.C.E. has heard those terms. They are part of our vision to reach each individual child for Christ. We are going to remain focused on reaching both the mind and the heart of every child for the Lord.
Back in the 1980s, A.C.E.’s co-founder Dr. Donald Howard was invited to come to the White House in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Ronald Reagan. They and some others discussed education in the United States of America. A few months after that meeting with President Reagan, a new educational report was released called A Nation At Risk (a term Dr. Howard used often). I believe that A.C.E.’s influence, through the Holy Spirit, later led to the authorization of No Child Left Behind under President George W. Bush.
A.C.E. has influenced America and the world with individualization. While we build on our foundation, know that the vision continues. A.C.E. was built on the foundations of Scripture and Jesus Christ. Individualization and mastery-based learning are hallmarks of A.C.E., but we are first and foremost Biblical.
A.C.E. has another motto—“Where the Scriptures Reign Paramount.” It is our vision to make sure that the Scriptures remain paramount in everything that we do. We are going to provide a Biblical education. Graduation is important, but salvation is more important. That is the underlying aspect of our vision here at A.C.E., and we are going to continue adding Bible and character building throughout the materials. Reaching the world for Christ . . . one child at a time is not just what we do, but reaching the world for Christ . . . one child at a time is why we do what we do.