School of Tomorrow Philippines: Enabling children to learn at their own pace

MANILA, Philippines – What started as a small class in Cavite City 40 years ago has grown into a network of 498 schools all over the Philippines.

Daring to dream big was, however, the furthest thing from the minds of Rev. Delbert Hooge and his wife Lora Lee, when they started what would become School of Tomorrow (SOT) Philippines, the local proponent of a unique individualized system of education. 

SOT, also known as the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), is an individualized system of education that allows personalized growth, ensuring mastery of the subject matter according to the student’s individual rate of learning. Used and recognized in more than 140 countries, it is a self-instructional system where students advance by learning and mastering bite-sized, achievable worktexts or modules called PACEs, each of which is equivalent to a chapter in a standard textbook. A year of academic progress is usually made up of 12 PACEs.

It is recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd). SOT Philippines’ system is made up of a full-year pre-school program where children aged four and five develop the basic skills that prepare them to learn to read; an intensive pre-elementary reading program that can be completed in 12 to 15 weeks depending on the child’s capacity to learn; an elementary program that can be completed in six to eight years; and a high school program that is usually accomplished within three to four years.

“So as you can see, we have been implementing the K-12 program for nearly 40 years now, long before the DepEd adopted it,” says Rev. Hooge, SOT Philippines executive director.

Humble beginnings

The founders were children of American missionaries who were assigned to the Philippines. Both of them grew up in the country. Rev. Hooge completed his junior high in Faith Academy in Manila, while Lora Lee finished high school at Manila’s American School. After they returned to the United States to finish their studies, they both enrolled at the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.

They came back to the Philippines as a missionary couple in 1967 and were assigned in Cavite City. Desiring to give their three children a good Christian education, they began looking for an appropriate school. Rev. Hooge’s first choice was, understandably, his alma mater, Faith Academy, which, unfortunately, had already transferred to Cainta, quite far from Cavite.

Not wanting to put their children in boarding school, Lora Lee decided to homeschool them. Soon after, other parents began asking if their children might have the same education.

“We began really small,” Lora Lee recalls. “We just took one of the Sunday school rooms of the church and made it our classroom.”

When Donald R. Howard, founder of ACE learned what the Hooges were doing, he encouraged schools in the US to send their used PACEs to the Philippines. “We were, of course, very thankful to Howard, but using those already used PACEs was very difficult,” Rev. Hooge says. “We had to erase all the answers written on them before we could use them and that required a lot of time and work!”

But when SOT Philippines was given the right to print PACEs, things became easier and Lora Lee’s classes began to grow bigger. As word about the SOT system spread, more pastors became interested and started putting up similar schools as part of their churches’ ministry.

The SOT program

SOT Philippines’ elementary program consists of eight major academic subjects: Mathematics, English, Social Studies, Science, Word Building (Spelling), Literature and Creative Writing, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan. There are also mini-classes for minor subjects such as Values Education, Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health, and Home Economics. The core subjects are all studied using PACEs designed for mastery and continuous progress.

The high school program, on the other hand, consists of specialized areas in Mathematics (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and Trigonometry); English (English I-IV); Science (Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics); Social Studies (Philippine History, Asian History, World History, World Geography and Economics); Filipino (Filipino I-IV); as well as additional subjects such as Etymology, Speech and Bible courses. Lecture classes are also conducted in Music, Values Education, Physical Education and Health, Home Technology, Science Laboratory (where students perform hands-on science experiments) and Computer Literacy. High achievers can take advanced subjects in Mathematics, English and Science.

From small to nationwide

“Again, we started very small,” says Lora Lee who was named PCST founder and system consultant. “We rented six-doors of an apartment building in Alabang, Muntinlupa. We didn’t even want to put up a sign.”

The school steadily grew and today, PCST is located in a 1.6-hectare gated compound in Levitown Executive Village in Para?aque City. The compound has fully air-conditioned learning centers, well-equipped computer and science laboratories, playgrounds, a Music Room, an Arts Center, a 200-meter track oval, a seven-lane competition pool measuring 20 meters in length and a fully air-conditioned theater/gymnasium.

At present, there are 498 schools all over the Philippines that actively use the system. They are located in big cities, in small towns and even in such remote places as the Camotes Islands of Cebu.  

“We even have a school in the mountains of Palawan where a graduate, a young woman from the Batak tribe, is now teaching Batak children how to read,” says Cesar de Ocampo, SOT Philippines training director.

Most of these schools are small, with 30 to 40 students on average, but there are a few big ones with 200 or more students.

“Our schools continue to do well and so do our graduates,” Lora Lee says beaming. “After they graduate, they have been accepted in leading colleges and universities, not only in the Philippines but in other countries as well.”

And thanks to the training they get under the SOT system, they perform well in college and even in their careers, she adds.

“We have graduates who are now pursuing successful careers in medicine, law, education and other professions,” she points out. “We even have one physicist who is now working at the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the US.”  

Daring to dream

Each year SOT holds an Educators’ Convention that gathers the teachers and administrators of its schools all over the country. “Dare to Dream” was the theme of the nine Educators’ Convention that SOT conducted this year in seven cities: Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Metro Manila, Baguio and Tagaytay. The conventions were attended by over 2,000 participants from more than 300 schools all over the country that use the SOT system.

With such accomplishments gathered in 40 years of SOT’s existence in the country, it is not surprising that the Hooges feel the time has come to dream – and to dream big. For instance, next year, SOT Philippines is envisioning a “big international blowout” to mark its 40th year in the country as well as the 25th anniversary of the National Student Convention that the SOT conducts annually. Guests from other countries are anticipated to be in Manila where there will be a week-and-a-half of celebration next year.

The past 39 years reveal stories of students who have been affected by this dream of a world class educational system in the Philippines. With schools in every strata of society, School of Tomorrow and its unique system of individualized education, continues to prepare every child for a productive and fulfilling life.  The dream goes on.