About the CCLE
The Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education (CCLE) partners with classical Lutheran schools, teachers, administrators, and homeschool families. The CCLE provides support, educational resources and a forum of ongoing discussion, communication, and growth of Classical Lutheran Education movement.
Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide: Scripture alone by grace alone through faith alone. These were the Reformation pillars of Martin Luther. Luther once said, “Parents can provide their children with no greater gift than an education in the liberal arts.” The goal of the CCLE is to give every family the opportunity and tools to follow Luther’s advice. The CCLE encourages and serves families, teachers, and schools working to restore the classical liberal arts and the best traditions of Lutheran education.
The CCLE provides a variety of services. We provide accreditation, certification, and collaboration. The CCLE accredits Lutheran schools. The CCLE helps schools identify what it means to be classical and to implement that in their schools. Certification is provided for teachers who want to understand classical education better and to be classical educators, in either the homeschool or classroom setting. Collaboration enables us to visit with one another. Our annual summer conference and online activities allow networking and furthering the classical education movement in our schools and homes.
About Classical Lutheran Education
“Liberal arts education,” “the art of classical learning,” and “classical education” all refer to the same enduring tradition—one that has set the standard of excellence in education for millennia. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, this was the only form of education worthy of a free person. The term liberales artes means “the arts of freedom,” signifying an education ordered not merely toward utility, but toward the formation of the whole person.
It was the recovery of this classical tradition that helped fuel both the Renaissance and the Reformation. Figures such as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and Johann Sturm labored to restore these arts in the sixteenth century, establishing schools that became models for centuries to come, including in America. These schools aimed to cultivate wisdom, eloquence, and piety. Today, the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education continues this work, seeking to restore and sustain this rich inheritance among Lutheran schools and educators.
Classical Lutheran education prepares students for a lifetime of learning by emphasizing the arts of language: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Our students grow into members of society who communicate clearly, deliberate wisely, and act responsibly as citizens. While progressive educational models focus primarily on utilitarian endeavors and immediate job preparation, classical education equips students not only for present tasks but also for future callings—indeed, for ideas not yet imagined, for engaging books not yet written, and discoveries not yet made.
At its heart, classical Lutheran education is centered on Christ and His Word. Christ commands His Church to baptize and to teach all that He has commanded, and the Apostle Paul exhorts fathers in Ephesians 6 to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Lutheran education, therefore, seeks to form students within a worldview in which Christ is central, and Holy Scripture is the source of truth and salvation. It is both our prayer and God’s promise that He will keep them steadfast in the faith and bring them to life everlasting.
Classical education and Lutheran doctrine are bound together in a common pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. While postmodern educational trends continue to embrace relativism, wokeness, and utility, a growing movement within Lutheran schools and homeschools marks a return to the time-tested educational pedagogy and timeless truths that once shaped Western civilization. Classical Lutheran education unites the seven liberal arts with the Lutheran Confessions, seeking to form not merely knowledgeable students, but wise and faithful servants of God and neighbor. In this harmonious union of Word and wisdom, classical Lutheran education stands as a bulwark against postmodern confusion and Godlessness—shaping minds and hearts for both earthly service and eternal life.
Martin Luther spoke passionately about the education of children, calling them “eternal treasures.” He taught that a faithful teacher—one who diligently forms and instructs the young—cannot be adequately repaid with any earthly reward. Indeed, next to the preaching office, he regarded teaching as the greatest and most noble vocation. The Consortium wholeheartedly affirms this conviction and exists to support those who labor in this high calling, providing a faithful Lutheran liberal arts education for the next generation.