Purpose Statement

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to compare academic achievement mean scores on the standardized PSAT from students educated through the Classical Christian method to mean scores from non-Classical Christian schools to see if there were any significant differences. The present study proposed to address the gap—there are no comparisons of academic performance on the PSAT between Classical and non-Classical Christian school students. The ACCS (2001) and the ACSI (2012a), by virtue of specific standards and rigorous accrediting protocols, made up the comparison groups in the present study from which random samples were drawn and then statistically analyzed. The population was all high school students attending private Christian schools affiliated with the ACCS or the ACSI who took the PSAT. The independent variable was the type of school, either a Classical Christian or non-Classical Christian. The dependent variable was the PSAT mean scores by school.

Significance of the Study

While public education reached near-universal expression in the 1960s, that decade also marked when the Bible and prayer were removed from public schools and public school test scores fell dramatically (Jeynes, 2012a). Researchers such as Jeynes, as well as authors in the field of Christian education, see a need to identify and publicize educational methods that are proving fruitful: “In my view it is important not only to distinguish between traditional public schools, charter schools, and Christian schools, but the various kinds of Christian schools as well” (W. Jeynes, personal communication, June, 2015). In a meta-analysis, Jeynes (2012a) found that the positive effects of Christian education have been persistent over time as well as remaining consistent during the more than half century he studied. Jeynes also noted in another article that attending a private Christian religious school decreased the achievement gap for minority Hispanic and African-American students compared to their majority white counterparts by more than 25% (Jeynes, 2012b).

According to the ACCS (2016), students from its schools consistently score in the top tier of all students in America on standardized tests. There are several reasons why educators should be interested in how a Classical Christian education may affect students’ PSAT scores, not the least of which is the awarding of National Merit Scholarships (2014) based on these scores. Admittance to the college of choice would be another reason to consider the type of K-12 school students attend. On a combined benchmark of three SAT tests, the ACCS (2016) reported students from its member schools scored 237 points above the benchmark for college and career readiness compared to 99 points for private schools, 46 for religious schools, and minus 88 for students attending public schools.

Classical Christian schools use a “particular pedagogical approach” (Wilson, 2003, p. 84–85) which is distinctly Christian in worldview. In addition to the ACCS, there are many Classical Christian homeschools, as evidenced by the dozen or so suppliers of curriculum and services found by a cursory Internet search (Classical Christian Homeschooling, 2015). Sherfinski (2014) reported the Classical Christian homeschooling “resurgence” as most evident among evangelical mother-teachers (p. 1).

Another larger association of Christian schools which accredits conforming member schools, the Association of Christian Schools International or ACSI (2012), like the ACCS (2001), stated that its mission is to promote, establish, and equip schools (including homeschools and coops) committed to education from an Evangelical Protestant Christian worldview. Both the ACCS (2012) and ACSI (2012) support instruction grounded in the Old and New Testament Scriptures. The ACCS (2012) added its Classical philosophy of teaching to both its mission statement and accrediting standards as a distinction from other Christian school methods.

Hobbs and Davis (2013) as well as Su et al., (2014) found comparing pedagogies fertile ground for educational research in search of best practices. Based on the groundwork laid by cognitive-developmental theorists and current researchers such as Jeynes (2012a), the current study sought to examine any differences in achievement from students in Classical Christian schools and non-Classical Christian schools.

Dietrich (2010) observed that Classical Christian methodology “differs significantly from postmodern American education” in that “children are taught how to think and learn rather than viewed as great silos that need to be filled to capacity with information” (pp. 28–29).