Accelerated Christian Education was founded in 1970 by Donald and Esther Howard to develop a biblically literalist curriculum adopted by private Christian schools. They opened the first ACE school in Texas in 1970 and it grew to over 3,000 schools in the US by 1980, reaching a peak of 8,000 schools in the 1980s. The ACE curriculum uses workbooks called PACEs that guide students through subjects individually at their own pace to complete each grade.

2. Accelerated Christian Education was founded in 1970
by Donald and Esther Howard.
They set about developing a biblically
literalist educational curriculum that was adopted by a
number of private Christian schools.
Donald traveled extensively to promote ACE schools,
viewing the establishment of ACE schools around the
world as a new form of missions, which he called
"educational missions".

3. The Howards opened the first school which used the
ACE program in Garland, Texas. They started with 45
students. By 1971, they had added six new schools.
By 1980 there were over 3,000 Christian schools in
the United States associated with ACE, reaching a peak
of 8,000 during the 1980s.
In 1996 ACE opened a three-story facility in Lewisville,
Texas to handle its growing operations.
In 1997, Esther took over control of ACE.

4. In 2007 ACE moved its corporate offices to
Hendersonville, Tennessee.The Lewisville
facility remains as ACE's distribution center
Esther Howard remains as ACE's President,
and Duane Howard (one of the Howards'
sons) currently serves as Vice President.

6. The program allows students to advance through high school. The
Accelerated Christian Education curriculum is based on a series of
workbooks called PACEs (Packets of Accelerated Christian Education). At
the beginning of each PACE is an overview of what the child will be learning,
a scripture to memorize, a character trait to strive toward, and a "heads up"
on what supplies the student will need. Each subject has 12 PACEs per
grade level.
The basic subjects of ACE are Mathematics, English, literature and
creative writing, Word Building (spelling and word usage), science, and
social studies (also known in the Philippines as Araling Panlipunan,
Philippine history, and Asian history). Test keys are published for
corresponding PACEs. Additional PACEs apply, such as Filipino (Philippines
only).

7. A new student starting the ACE system is given a
placement test, which assesses ability in the five areas with
corresponding subjects. The test 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.

8. In addition to the educational material contained, many of
the PACEs also include "Wisdom Inserts", small comic-strip
features intended to demonstrate desired character traits. The
strips feature many recurring characters, both adults and children,
who all have surnames that contain a character quality (similar in
some ways to the naming convention used for characters in The
Pilgrim's Progress). The portrayal of the children is age-
progressed; early-grade PACEs show the children as young while
later-grade PACEs show them as teenagers.

9. The two main characters are Ace Virtueson and
Christi Lovejoy, who are always portrayed as
exemplifying impeccable character. Ronny Vain and
Susie Selfwill are portrayed as antagonists
demonstrating bad character traits (such as bullying,
disobedience, and arrogance). The characters (except for
Ronny and Susie) also appear throughout several PACEs
as narrators. The remaining characters are portrayed as
"normal", showing good and bad character traits but trying
to perform good behaviors.

11. •Creationism and the Loch Ness monster

12. Distribution and promotion
ACE provides annual one-day
training sessions for
administrators The sessions focus on understanding and
properly implementing 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

13. Distribution and promotion

14. ACE student
conventions