Our History
In 2018, Matthew Flippen, Founder and President of Gracelyn, forecasted that K-12 schools would face significant staffing challenges that would harm children’s ability to reach their God-given potential. Enrollment rates in traditional university education programs had been declining at 5% per year for over a decade. Unfilled teacher vacancies were growing to over 250,000 annually and hitting our least-resourced communities the hardest. The rapidly rising cost of higher education was making it harder and harder to pay back student loans on a teacher’s salary, keeping people from becoming educators
In 2021, after prayer, research and development, Matthew and a team of expert educators launched Gracelyn designed specifically to empower the 1.2 million non-certified staff already working in our school systems to become the solution to this critical need. Since then, Gracelyn has been equipping, encouraging, supporting, and preparing a rapidly growing number of future educators.
Facts about Gracelyn
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Gracelyn is currently growing enrollment in the Bachelor of Transformational Christian Education designed specifically to provide a path for non-certified staff to earn an affordable online education degree. This program is taught by experienced K-12 educators who are experts in their subjects. Gracelyn’s courses are taught in eight (8) week terms and offered five (5) times per year. Gracelyn’s tuition costs $10,656 for the entire 120 credit hour degree and is typically paid monthly ($222 per month). A majority of Gracelyn students due to their income status qualify for a 50% institutional scholarship reducing their monthly payment to $111.
Gracelyn Board of Regents
Dr. Donetrus Hill – Chairman, Executive Leadership Consultant with RJH & Associates,
LLC and Senior Consultant with Global Schools Consultants
Dr. Kelly Bingham – Secretary, Former Superintendent of Liberty University K-12 Online
Dr. Eddie Coulson, Partner in the education consulting firm N2 Learning
Dr. Rick Fernandez, Accenture, Founder of the Path Forward Podcast
Dr. Toby Travis, Founder of TrustED and Superintendent of The Village Christian Academy
Gracelyn Board of Advisors
Dr. Lindsie Almquist – Education Leadership, Human Resource Management, Austin Independent School District
– Executive Director of School Leadership & Campus Support
Dr. Lillie Cox – Education Leadership, WE LEAD Women in Educational Leadership – Owner/Founder
Kevin Dougherty – Education Technology, Chief Strategy Officer with 806 Technologies
Dr. Alex Granados – Higher Education Leadership, Calvary University – President
Dr. Mark Haywood – Higher Education Leadership, Grace School of Theology – Provost
Dr. La’Keisha Newsome – Education Leadership, Special Education, Henry County Schools – Special Education
Supervisor