Pensacola Christian Academy (PCA) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Christian school A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

serving elementary through high school grades. It is located in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

, United States.

History

The school was founded as Pensacola Christian School in 1954 by Arlin Horton (who later established

Pensacola Christian College Pensacola Christian College (PCC) is a private Independent Baptist college in Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1974 by Arlin and Beka Horton, it has been accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools since 2013. H ...

) and his wife Beka. PCS began in a three classroom building, offering only three classes from kindergarten through second grade. One grade was added each year until the school reached 9th grade. In the early days PCS was one of the only schools with

air-conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

class rooms. Grades ten through twelve were added after the school was moved to a larger facility in the mid 1960s. In 1994 PCS completed a new state-of-the-art facility located on Brent Lane in Pensacola. Following the move to the new facility Pensacola Christian School changed its name to Pensacola Christian Academy.

Program

PCA is an evangelical Christian school using

A Beka Book Abeka Book, LLC, known as A Beka Book until 2017, is an American publisher affiliated with Pensacola Christian College (PCC) that produces K-12 curriculum materials that are used by Christian schools and homeschooling families around the world. I ...

curriculum. The school is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

through the

Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools The Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (FACCS) is an organization that accredits Florida's Christian schools. It holds teachers conventions and annual competitions for its member schools. It is a member of the National Council fo ...

, an accrediting body for Christian schools. Since its inception the school has remained dedicated to using "traditional methods" such as

phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...

for teaching reading and the art of

cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

for

penmanship Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal histor ...

. Although criticized by some, PCA begins teaching cursive form of writing as early as kindergarten. PCA believes that forming a firm foundation for the very basic skills is important for learning more advanced skills later in education and later in life.Pensacola Christian Academy
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Dress Code and Regulation

Girls are only allowed to wear skirts or dresses that do not rise above their knees (7-12th only) and shirts that do not show their stomach. Boys can wear pants. Boys cannot wear shorts (7th-12th only). For girls most jewelry is permitted. Cartilage/facial/tongue/lip/eyebrow/belly button piercings are not permitted. No words are allowed on the clothing, unless they are able to be covered by one or two fingers.

Associations

Pensacola Christian Academy is associated with

, and is utilized extensively by the

PCC PCC may refer to: Science and technology * Pearson correlation coefficient (''r''), in statistics * Periodic counter-current chromatography, a type of affinity chromatography * Portable C Compiler, an early compiler for the C programming language ...

Education Department as a training grounds in all PCC Education Majors. All PCC Education internships as well as many classroom observation practicums are held within the PCA facility. The A Beka Books curriculum which is marketed to home schoolers and private Christian schools throughout the world is named for the co-founder of the Pensacola Christian Academy, Beka Horton. The curriculum was developed within PCA and is the curriculum used solely by the school. A Beka Books textbooks are written from a conservative Christian perspective and are available to home schoolers and Christian schools for purchase through the A Beka Books website. In addition to A Beka Books, PCA also is affiliated with A Beka Academy, a correspondence school system that uses the

s curriculum. The A Beka Academy features

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

s of PCA teachers recorded while teaching live classes at PCA. All student test scores and grades for those enrolled in A Beka Academy are sent to and recorded at the A Beka Academy offices. On completion of the 12th grade, a home-schooled student of A Beka Academy may graduate.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Pensacola Christian Academy website
{{authority control Christian schools in Florida Buildings and structures in Pensacola, Florida Private high schools in Florida Private elementary schools in Florida High schools in Escambia County, Florida Private middle schools in Florida Educational institutions established in 1954 1954 establishments in Florida