A.C.E. and PACEs, in Massachusetts, with a full school day around them.

What we run

New England Christian Academy has used Accelerated Christian Education since 1976. Students work through PACEs — self-instructional workbooks, twelve per level per subject — with Checkups along the way, a Self Test, and a supervised PACE Test at the end. Nothing is graded on a curve. Mastery is 80%, and a student who doesn't reach it repeats the material rather than moving on with a gap.

Your child is tested in each subject and placed where they actually are — not where their birthday says they should be. They set their own daily goals, work at their own desk, and can't move forward until they've mastered the material at 80% or better. A student who is ahead in math isn't held back. A student who needs another two weeks on fractions gets another two weeks. Nobody gets left behind and nobody gets bored.

Diagnostic placement, subject by subject

Every new student is tested in each subject and placed where they actually are. A child can sit at Level 4 in math and Level 6 in English at the same time. For a family that has been schooling at home, that means we start from what your child knows — not from a transcript or a birthday.

What a school building adds to the model

• Supervisors and monitors who score work, watch tests, and keep goals honest.
• A daily interactive lecture, chapel, art, STEM, music, drama, home economics, PE, woodworking, and field trips.
• Peers on the same curriculum, and a graduating class to walk with.
• Year-end achievement testing and a diploma track through grade 12.

Character and Scripture

The A.C.E. model teaches ninety character traits of Christ alongside academic work, with Scripture memory built into the PACEs. That's not an add-on at NECA; it's the reason the school exists.

Learning to read

Younger students begin with the ABCs with Ace and Christi phonics program — a full year of reading instruction for ages five to nine, and the entry point for our K-4 four-year-old kindergarten. More on early learning.

The school day

• 8:00 — Doors open
• 8:15 — Opening exercises
• 8:30 – 10:00 — First period — homework review, testing, PACE work and scoring
• 10:00 – 10:35 — Snack and recess by learning center
• 10:20 — Daily interactive lecture
• 10:35 – 11:45 — Second period
• 11:45 – 12:20 — Lunch and recess (students bring lunch from home)
• 12:20 – 1:30 — Third period
• 1:30 – 2:20 — Monday afternoon activity · Tuesday art or STEM · Thursday PE · Friday field trip or woodworking
• 2:20 — Homework
• 2:30 — Dismissal

School runs 8:00 to 2:30, and 1:30 on Wednesdays. There is no before or after school care, and students bring lunch from home.