Do Bethel graduates typically go to college?

The way we do school at Bethel Christian is based on a model of schooling called Big Picture Learning, which now has over 275 schools worldwide. Furthermore, Big Picture Learning schools have a 97% college acceptance rate (https://education-reimagined.org/findings-from-the-big-picture-learning-longitudinal-study/#:~:text=78%25%20of%20BPL%20students%20concurrently,in%20community%20service%20post%2Dgraduation.

All four students who have attended Bethel for at least 2 years have been accepted into college (therefore currently a 100% acceptance rate). One of them is majoring in accounting and has a full-paid scholarship to McNeese. Another is doing well at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (video game school) in Lafayette, Louisiana. And another is pursuing a nursing degree at Sowela and doing very well, after having aced a college-level phlebotomy course while she was still attending Bethel.

After having numerous interviews with business professionals and oftentimes shadowed these same individuals, nearly all of our students arrive at college knowing exactly what they want to do. I totally do not expect former Bethel students to switch majors like the majority of college students, 80% of whom change majors at one time or another

(https://studentresearchgroup.com/statistics-about-changing-college-majors/#:~:text=Around%2080%25%20of%20college%20students,it's%20not%20a%20permanent%20one!).

Can Bethel graduates make use of TOPS (Taylor Opportunity Program for Students)?

Absolutely!!! In fact, as of April of 2025, students that are a part of BESE-approved home studies (like Bethel students) are eligible for the same amount of money as public and private school students. This is fantastic news! (In the past, home study students were required to score two points better on the ACT in order to get the same amount of scholarship money as public school students). However, now all students are on an equal playing field except in one area. Home study students are able to create a personalized curriculum for each student based on the student’s interests and strengths! Think about it. Isn’t that what all of us want? My son might enjoy his accounting classes at McNeese but I surely would not!. And my wife loves the medical field and doing hand therapy but I would be miserable doing that!

Why do you teach Communication rather than ELA?

At Big Picture Schools and Bethel Christian, we teach communication because we feel like it's a much better descriptor than ELA. By the time that each of our high school students graduates, most will have given at least 12 significant speeches to an average of 30 adults and students. In addition, the student will have written a paper also that will include a thesis statement, introduction, and conclusion. Each will have also written approximately 20 thank you notes to business professionals and written in their journals twice weekly, which amounts to over 200 journal entries. Furthermore, each will have sat with approximately 15 business professionals and had an adult conversation with each of these professionals,

None of our students have had any difficulties taking college level writing classes our students write so extensively. We use a curriculum called IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) that is especially popular with homeschoolers. However, it has also been used in public schools. Moreover, research https://iew.com/schools/research?srsltid=AfmBOopVhZXD2Eg9fhR7F9kv7WEHoWU_hdpoZ1yO5oRwDZ7XEX1QfvbS  shows that students who participated in IEW had significantly better ELA test scores than those who did not.

In regards to English, it’s much more common now to teach parts of speech in conjunction with writing. I just read back over a text from current Barbe teacher and graduation coach Lauren Cesar, where she said public schools no longer “advocate for grammar in isolation.” In other words, schools do not teach grammar all by itself anymore. Also, the ACT never asks questions about specific parts of speech. When our students have issues with parts of speech or punctuation rules as it applies to writing, we deal with the student individually to correct this.