Misplaced Pages

#459540

41-662: 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 system both in the US and the United Kingdom. The ACE curriculum does not meet national and state standards such as the National Science Education Standards (NSES), because it does not support basic skills for critical thought and scientific literacy. The ACE curriculum explicitly denies evolution , that human agency

82-547: A 1987 article in the education journal Phi Delta Kappa analyzed the ACE curriculum, concluding that "If parents want their children to obtain a very limited and sometimes inaccurate view of the world — one that ignores thinking above the level of rote recall — then the ACE materials do the job very well. The world of the ACE materials is quite a different one from that of scholarship and critical thinking." The ACE curriculum has promoted racist stereotypes. One workbook included

123-498: A 1999 brochure ACE reported 7,000 schools, and by 2013, 6,000. Donald Howard travelled actively to promote ACE schools in the United States and around the world as a new form of "educational mission". Expansion into Australia began in 1976 and peaked in the 1980s. ACE schools have also been established in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Europe, and elsewhere. ACE has also focused on the homeschooling market. In 1992 ACE opened

164-674: A convention in 2022, which held upwards of 1,000 students. The All Africa Student Convention takes place in South Africa once a year at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The All Africa Student Convention is not organized or hosted by ACE United States but by Accelerated Christian Education South Africa, which is a separate organization providing the ACE curriculum to African schools. The conventions also offer "Events of

205-576: A financial penalty as the school loses its discount. The company also sells home schooling and distance learning curriculum materials through its Lighthouse Christian Academy (LCA). ACE provides annual one-day training sessions called Christian Educators' Conventions (CEC) for administrators, supervisors, and monitors. These are provided in locations around the United States. There are also week-long sessions provided for additional training for monitors, supervisors, and other administrative positions. The sessions focus on understanding and properly implementing

246-543: A graduate of Bob Jones University . and his wife Esther Hilte Howard. They set about developing a biblically literalist educational curriculum. The first school which used the ACE program opened in Garland, Texas in 1973 and started with 45 students. By 1980 there were over 3,000 Christian schools in the United States associated with ACE. ACE reported that 8,000 schools were using by the 1980s. Subsequent numbers decreased: in

287-455: A three-story facility in Lewisville, Texas, to handle its growing operations. Esther Howard took over control of ACE the following year. J. Duane Howard, one of the couple's sons, currently serves as CEO. In 2007, ACE moved its corporate offices to Madison, Tennessee, eventually moving to Hendersonville, Tennessee in 2014. The Lewisville facility remains as ACE's distribution center. According to

328-519: Is a value of education which is to be de-emphasized in reform of science according to new American national curriculum standards. Recall facts is often associated with rote learning . According to "The Influence of the National Science Education Standards on the Science Curriculum" by James D. Ellis of the University of Kansas : "Teaching for depth of understanding of important science concepts

369-420: Is affecting climate, and that climate change is occurring. Instead it focuses on conservative Christian beliefs and values, presenting those who reject creationism as immoral. Critics of ACE argue that students are placed at an educational disadvantage due to the material and methods of the curriculum. Accelerated Christian Education was founded in 1970 by fundamentalist Baptist minister Donald Ray Howard ,

410-423: Is an ineffective tool in mastering any complex subject at an advanced level. For instance, one illustration of rote learning can be observed in preparing quickly for exams, a technique which may be colloquially referred to as " cramming ". Rote learning is sometimes disparaged with the derogative terms parrot fashion , regurgitation , cramming , or mugging because one who engages in rote learning may give

451-421: Is considered to be dependent on strong foundational skills . Learning abstract concepts of mathematics is perceived to depend on a solid base of knowledge of the tools of the subject. Thus, these people believe that rote learning is an important part of the learning process. Rote learning is also used to describe a simple learning pattern used in machine learning , although it does not involve repetition, unlike

SECTION 10

#1732852232460

492-410: Is flexible, with students proceeding at their own pace. Students are given review activities at certain points in a PACE (called "Checkups") and a test at its culmination (Self Test). Supervisors do not answer PACE questions nor do they give the answer, but guide students and encourage them to find the answer on their own. Should material in some PACE subjects be challenging, supervisors may need to adjust

533-564: Is given a diagnostic test, which places the student at appropriate levels by subject. Each subject is color-coded, with twelve PACEs per level, and 12 Levels per core subject, except Word Building (9 Levels) and Literature and Creative Writing (which begins with Level 2 and concludes with Level 8). The core subjects of ACE are mathematics (yellow), English (red), Literature (and Creative Writing ) (burgundy), Word Building/Etymology (purple), science (blue), social studies (green), and Old and New Testament (light yellow). Students in

574-619: Is greater understanding if students commit a formula to memory through exercises that use the formula rather than through rote repetition of the formula. Newer standards often recommend that students derive formulas themselves to achieve the best understanding. Nothing is faster than rote learning if a formula must be learned quickly for an imminent test and rote methods can be helpful for committing an understood fact to memory. However, students who learn with understanding are able to transfer their knowledge to tasks requiring problem-solving with greater success than those who learn only by rote. On

615-512: Is preferred, rather than recall of science facts. Teaching less content in depth is better than covering too much content superficially." In North America, the 1989 NCTM math Standards called for decreased emphasis (but not elimination) of memorization of facts. The revised 2000 Standards and the 2006 Focal Points made it clear that students should still memorize basic addition and multiplication facts. Newer editions of textbooks such as Everyday Mathematics stress that Helping children learn

656-564: Is usually held at a university campus, such as Rutgers University (1988), the University of North Texas in Denton (1989 and 1992), Northern Arizona University (1990), Indiana University (1991), and Purdue University (1994). International Student Conventions have also been held at Western Kentucky University (2010) with about 2,500 students, James Madison University (2011), with 3,000 attending, and New Mexico State University (2015), with 2,500 participants. They have since returned to IUP for

697-538: The American College Test between public school students from one school and ACE students from another private school in the same geographic area, one college student wrote in her thesis in 2005 that "a significant difference was found between the public school graduates' scores and the ACE graduates' scores in all areas of the ACT (English, Math, Reading, and Composite Score), except the area of Science Reasoning. Overall,

738-496: The ACE (or SOT) logo although schools are expected to sign an agreement and follow the ACE Procedures Manual and Administration Manual . The program is intended for homeschooling and private establishments; ACE provides instruction and structure for operating a "Christian school". ACE's website advises that schools are not required to use the entire curriculum and may augment it with other resources, although this incurs

779-561: 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. In 2018, a further ACE school in London was rated 'inadequate' for failing to teach adequate science and for not teaching children to ″develop

820-590: The ACE program. For Learning Center Supervisors a four-day workshop is provided annually. The workshop is organized like an ACE classroom, allowing the supervisor to experience the ACE system as a student and learn how to implement the system. Schools that use the ACE curriculum may participate in the Regional Student Conventions. and the top-placed participants are able to proceed to the International Student Convention. This convention

861-441: The ACT scores of the ACE graduates were consistently lower than those of the public school students." The author also noted that "the current study did not account for variables such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, or parent's level of education. These variables may impact ACT scores and therefore need to be considered in future research," nor was demographic information of the public school used for comparison. Furthermore,

SECTION 20

#1732852232460

902-714: The Heart", which allow students with mental and physical disabilities to participate. When the conventions first started, a parade in the hosting city would accompany a convention. In 1981, over 3,000 students and sponsors marched in New York City to celebrate the opening of the convention at Rutgers University . Student conventions offer speakers; past speakers have included David Gibbs from the Christian Law Association, Ben Jordan, Tim LaHaye and Beverly LaHaye , and William Murray . Recall of facts Recall of facts

943-555: The Philippines (under School of Tomorrow Philippines) also study Araling Panlipunan (brown) and Filipino (pink). ACE's educational approach uses phonics to teach reading. The curriculum consists of DVDs, videos, computer software and workbooks. Each subject has 12 PACES per level, with students completing at least 70 PACES per academic year. There are 156 PACES from preschool to Level 12 for each core subject, except math (144 PACES), Word Building and Literature and Creative Writing. At

984-573: The Self Test and PACE Test, just the PACE Test, or the entire workbook packet. The curriculum's emphasis on rote recall has been criticized by educational researchers. David Berliner described the teaching methods as "low-level cognitive tasks that emphasize simple association and recall activities, as is typical of instruction from workbooks... the materials make heavy use of behavioral objectives, programmed learning, and rewards." D. Fleming and T Hunt in

1025-543: The alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning , associative learning , spaced repetition and active learning . Rote learning is widely used in the mastery of foundational knowledge . Examples of school topics where rote learning is frequently used include phonics in reading , the periodic table in chemistry , multiplication tables in mathematics , anatomy in medicine , cases or statutes in law, basic formulae in any science , etc. By definition, rote learning eschews comprehension, so by itself it

1066-425: The basic division facts. Multiplication and division facts are reinforced at the beginning of fifth grade. This article relating to education is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rote learning Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition . The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of

1107-505: The basic facts is an important goal in the Everyday Mathematics Curriculum. Most children should have developed an automatic recall of the basic addition and subtraction facts by the end of the second grade. They should also know most of their 1, 2, 5, and 10 multiplication facts by this time. By the end of the fourth grade most students should have an automatic recall of all the basic multiplication facts and be familiar with

1148-435: 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. Students are required to set daily goals for work completion, score PACE goals correctly and completely, and are generally expected to complete a PACE within two to three weeks (depending on the school). ACE's curriculum website states that curriculum progression

1189-447: The curriculum fails students as it is heavily based around memorizing information rather than analyzing and understanding it. This rote-learning emphasis fails to support "development of science skills, the powers of critical thought, and basic scientific literacy and numeracy". The ACE curriculum, across multiple versions, continues to put students at a ‘cognitive and conceptual disadvantage.’ Having researched comparative performance on

1230-424: 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). Children learn using materials based on their level of understanding, not based on their age or chronological grade level and do not progress until they learn the content. A new student

1271-709: The effects of human actions on climate, and that climate change is occurring. Science is presented in the ACE curriculum through the framework of Young Earth Creationism (YEC). For example, the existence of the Loch Ness monster is presented as a fact (as a plesiosaur ), and used as a so-called proof against the scientific theory of evolution . Textbooks published in Europe removed the Loch Ness monster reference in July 2013, but children are still only taught creationism as an explanation for

Accelerated Christian Education - Misplaced Pages Continue

1312-423: The following passage: Although apartheid appears to allow the unfair treatment of blacks, the system has worked well in South Africa .... Although white businessmen and developers are guilty of some unfair treatment of blacks, they turned South Africa into a modern industrialized nation, which the poor, uneducated blacks couldn't have accomplished in several more decades. If more blacks were suddenly given control of

1353-592: The mastery of concepts instead of mere memorization and the following of procedures. More than ever, school mathematics must include an understanding of how to use technology to arrive meaningfully at solutions to problems instead of endless attention to increasingly outdated computational tedium. However, advocates of traditional education have criticized the new American standards as slighting learning basic facts and elementary arithmetic , and replacing content with process-based skills. In math and science, rote methods are often used, for example to memorize formulas. There

1394-465: The nation, its economy and business, as Mandela wished, they could have destroyed what they have waited and worked so hard for. In addition, the curriculum has been criticized for its depiction of racially segregated churches and schools. It has been argued that ACE is not a suitable recipient for national educational funding. The ACE curriculum gives religious explanations of natural phenomena rather than scientific ones. It explicitly denies evolution ,

1435-502: The origin of life on earth. Textbooks used in the curriculum assert that abortion is wrong, evolution is false, and homosexuality is a choice . They teach that wives must be submissive to their husbands, women's liberation leads to child neglect and that one can avoid AIDS by being abstinent until marriage. The ACE curriculum in "Science 1096" asserts that solar fusion is a myth, describing it as "an invention of evolution scientists." As of January 2017, there are 26 schools using

1476-427: The other side, those who disagree with the inquiry-based philosophy maintain that students must first develop computational skills before they can understand concepts of mathematics. These people would argue that time is better spent practicing skills rather than in investigations inventing alternatives, or justifying more than one correct answer or method. In this view, estimating answers is insufficient and, in fact,

1517-407: The sample size of graduates from ACE was disproportionately small in this analysis. In April 2019, the University of South Africa warned that applicants who completed their Grade 12 or equivalent using the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) School of Tomorrow curriculum may not meet the admission criteria. Schools using the curriculum are not allowed to describe themselves as "ACE schools" or use

1558-588: The skills to collect and evaluate scientific evidence." In 2017, research into the International Certificate of Christian Education, the school-leaving qualification provided by ACE in the UK, claimed that it failed to prepare students for university level education. Professor Michael Reiss of University of London stated "My particular problem with ACE is the awful nature of the curriculum they provide to their students." Studies by Scaramanga and Reiss state that

1599-438: The students' goals accordingly. The passing score for the PACE Test can be from 80% to 90%, also depending on the corresponding school. Students fail if they have committed minor or major scoring violations, for example, a 100% on all three Checkups and the Self Test, and a 42% on the PACE Test. They are then mandated to take measures to pass the failed PACE subject. This varies depending on the school, and may require repeating both

1640-431: The usual meaning of rote learning. The machine is programmed to keep a history of calculations and compare new input against its history of inputs and outputs, retrieving the stored output if present. This pattern requires that the machine can be modeled as a pure function — always producing same output for same input — and can be formally described as follows: Rote learning was used by Samuel 's Checkers on an IBM 701 ,

1681-432: The wrong impression of having understood what they have written or said. It is strongly discouraged by many new curriculum standards. For example, science and mathematics standards in the United States specifically emphasize the importance of deep understanding over the mere recall of facts , which is seen to be less important. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics stated: More than ever, mathematics must include

Accelerated Christian Education - Misplaced Pages Continue

#459540