ACSI Bible Program Survey (Part 4): Starting with the End in Mind

When a school evaluates its Bible program, one of the first questions is often: What curriculum should we use? The 2025 ACSI Bible Program Survey suggests an even more foundational question: What do we want students to know, be able to do, and be prepared to live out as a result of their Bible education?

The first three installments of this series explored curriculum use, program strengths and challenges, and the importance of coherent program design. This final installment turns to the destination itself—and to what ACSI and Purposeful Design Publications (PDP) are doing with what we learned.

The survey produced far more than a snapshot of Bible instruction in ACSI member schools. It surfaced significant questions about student engagement, academic rigor, curricular cohesion, differentiation, and the progression of Bible learning across grade levels. Teachers and administrators also pointed to important strengths, including committed Bible teachers, biblical centrality, application, worldview formation, and apologetics.

Taken together, these findings lead to a larger question for Christian school leaders: What is our Bible program ultimately designed to accomplish?

What Can and Cannot Be Measured

Bible instruction is unlike most academic subjects because the desired outcomes extend beyond knowledge and skill. A student may explain a doctrine accurately, interpret a passage well, or earn a high grade without necessarily embracing what Scripture teaches or demonstrating a transformed life.

Survey respondents recognized this tension. Administrators described both academic rigor and life application as essential, yet some expressed concern that students could succeed academically in Bible class without experiencing the heart transformation schools ultimately desire.

That concern should not prevent schools from defining meaningful outcomes. Instead, it should help clarify what schools can responsibly teach, develop, and assess.

Students can grow in biblical literacy. They can learn to read Scripture in context, use interpretive tools responsibly, understand major biblical themes and foundational doctrines, evaluate ideas through a biblical worldview, articulate convictions thoughtfully, and apply biblical principles to real-life questions.

Spiritual formation is different. Teachers can encourage spiritual disciplines such as prayer, worship, service, reflection, discipleship, and engagement with Scripture. They can provide opportunities for students to respond faithfully. But spiritual transformation should not be treated as though it can be measured with the same precision as reading comprehension or passage analysis.

Academic outcomes help schools steward their instructional responsibility. Spiritual formation reminds us that the ultimate work of changing hearts belongs to God.

Begin With the Graduate

One practical way to bring clarity to a Bible program is to begin at the end.

Imagine a student completing the final Bible course your school offers. What should that student be able to do with Scripture? What biblical knowledge should the student possess? What theological questions should the student be prepared to engage? How clearly should the student articulate a biblical worldview? What habits of Bible study should have been developed?

The answers will not look identical in every Christian school. Schools serve different communities, theological traditions, and student populations. But those differences do not eliminate the need for intentionality.

Outcomes provide a destination without requiring every school to travel exactly the same route.

Once those outcomes are clear, leaders can work backward through the grade levels. If graduates should interpret Scripture responsibly, what skills should be developed in middle school, and what foundations should begin in elementary school? If graduates should articulate and defend Christian convictions, when should students begin explaining what they believe, and how should those skills deepen over time?

The goal is not simply for important skills to appear repeatedly in a Bible program, but for them to develop intentionally.

From Survey Findings to Action

This is also where the 2025 ACSI Bible Program Survey is beginning to have an impact beyond the research itself.

Purposeful Design Publications is currently undertaking a significant revision of its Bible series, informed in part by findings from this survey and designed to address concerns such as student engagement, academic rigor, and curricular cohesion.

That work is more than a routine revision cycle.

The survey gave us an opportunity to listen carefully to the educators and leaders using, developing, evaluating, and teaching Bible curriculum every day. We learned more about where schools are experiencing success, where existing resources may not fully meet their needs, and where greater coherence and intentionality could strengthen the student experience.

Those insights are helping drive an overhaul and reimagining of what PDP Bible program offerings may ultimately look like.

The aim is not merely to update content. It is to think more comprehensively about how Bible instruction can support deeper engagement with Scripture, appropriate academic rigor, progression across grade levels, and greater coherence within a school’s overall Bible program. The survey discussions themselves repeatedly highlighted the need for stronger alignment, greater depth, and resources that respond to the realities schools are encountering.

For PDP, the survey has therefore become more than research. It is helping inform product innovation.

Guidelines, Not a Single Formula

The survey also reinforced that schools need room to design Bible programs consistent with their missions and communities. A single prescriptive model will not serve every school equally well.

At the same time, some schools reported developing their own academic benchmarks because commonly accepted measures for Bible instruction are limited. During the survey analysis, the idea of supportive guidelines rather than universal mandates emerged as an important distinction.

That approach can help schools ask important questions about biblical literacy, interpretation, theology, worldview, application, apologetics, and spiritual practices while retaining appropriate freedom to establish their own expectations and program design.

Where the Survey Leads Us

The final question from this series is therefore not simply this one: Which curriculum should we use?

It is, rather, this one: What are we trying to accomplish through the Bible program God has entrusted to us?

Curriculum is one tool. Teachers are indispensable. Program architecture provides coherence. Clearly defined outcomes help bring those pieces into alignment.

And the Work Does Not End With This Final Blog

To every teacher, administrator, head of school, and other educator who took time to complete the 2025 ACSI Bible Program Survey: thank you. Your responses gave us more than data. They helped us understand the questions schools are asking, the challenges educators are facing, and the opportunities before us.

Your investment of time and thoughtful input has helped shape these findings, and it is helping influence what comes next.

We are grateful you entrusted us with your perspectives, and we are excited about where what we learned may lead.

To continue exploring how these ideas can take shape in your school, consider the Bible curriculum from Purposeful Design Publications (PDP). Designed specifically for Christian schools, PDP Bible resources support biblical literacy, thoughtful engagement with Scripture, age-appropriate skill development, and meaningful application across grade levels. The curriculum also aligns with the Purpose domain of ACSI’s Flourishing Schools Culture Model, helping schools connect Bible instruction with a broader vision for Christ-centered student formation. Explore the available courses and consider how they might support the goals and outcomes you have defined for your own Bible program: https://your.acsi.org/bible.