Meet Our Head of School
To say that Dr. Vance Nichols, Head of School at Alta Loma Christian School, is passionate about Christian education and shaping our students’ finest futures would be a vast understatement. Now in his 42nd year as an educator, including his 39th in Christian schools, Dr. Nichols has served in the chief leadership post at ALCS since 2015 and introduced the school’s concept of 21st Century Skills, 1st Century Faith. TM
As a career Christian school leader, Dr. Nichols has helped envision and incubate new academic initiatives—including technology-integrated instruction, collaborative STEM Space Science & Engineering and Robotic Engineering programs (his schools’ students, ranging from grades 4-12 at two schools, have engineered eight experiments transported to the International Space Station with the Quest for Space Project since 2012, including three historic experiments from ALCS); and secondary school academic expansion—resulting in heightened levels of student metacognitive learning and record assessment performance.
During Dr. Nichols’ time at ALCS, the school system has become one of the first school systems in the state (public or private) to teach coding to every student, preschool through 8th grade; has established an award-winning STEM program as a faith-based STEM school; has experienced increased student performance and educational innovation. Due to these and other accomplishments–and most importantly through the blessings of God–ALCS has been selected the Inland Empire’s Best Private School in 2024; an Inland Empire Best of the Best Private School since 2016, an Innovation Best Schools and Colleges honoree since 2019, and one of the Inland Empire’s Best Places to Work since 2023.
“I love this school. Our school has a unique and positive culture that’s unlike any place I’ve ever been. Truly, we’re not just a school you attend, but a family you belong to. A family we all belong to.”
– Dr. Vance Nichols
“Those are all the result of an incredible team that God has brought together and empowered here at ALCS,” explains Dr. Nichols. “We have gifted and accessible teachers, engaged students, and supportive parents who work with experienced leadership and staff to accomplish remarkable things. And our creative, innovative, and hard-working kids are accomplishing remarkable things, all in the context of a biblical, Christian worldview.”
During his career, Dr. Nichols has served in both public and private school settings, and has led as head of school, chief academic officer, and principal at the K-12 levels, as well as teaching and coaching at the elementary through high school grades and as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer in the U.S. and abroad.
As a graduate researcher at California Baptist University (CBU), Dr. Nichols conducted a groundbreaking study published in 2006 linking leadership failure to private school closure. His subsequent research at the University of Southern California (USC), published in 2016, analyzed the unprecedented decline of the evangelical Christian school movement in America (prior to the pandemic), with implications for reversing the trend. In the process, his Repetitive Inaction Disorder (RID) Theory was presented in February 2015. This and other research has been utilized at ALCS to provide a premier, leading-edge, data-informed, award-winning, faith-based educational experience for students like no other.
“What forward-thinking 21st-century educators understand is that students must have access to new, leading-edge learning experiences that equip and empower them for the future—their future—in real ways. That means giving them unique opportunities to learn and grow that they can’t find anywhere else, in a school culture where students are affirmed they are loved, they are enough, and they belong.”
– Dr. Vance Nichols
As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Nichols has been a frequent conference speaker on educational and organizational leadership issues, including co-presenting on multiple occasions with Barna Group and speaking at the California Department of Education’s Private School Conference.
He serves as a commissioner on the Association of Christian Schools International Commission on Accreditation (ACSI COA, which sets the academic and accreditation standards for all ACSI-member schools in the U.S. and abroad) and chairs ACSI’s Western Division Accreditation Commission (SoCal/Hawaii). He chairs EE-12 accreditation visiting committees for ACSI and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), has served as the private school representative on a public school district task force on special education policy, and was a member of a California assembly district private school advisory committee. He has also served on a university accreditation advisory council, university degree program assessment committee, and as a subject matter expert revising university courses on Leadership and Change and Dynamics of Group Behavior. Dr. Nichols holds lifetime credentials in administration and teaching.
Considered an authority on organizational leadership, innovation, and faith-based private education, Dr. Nichols serves as an adjunct professor of organizational leadership at Los Angeles Pacific University (LAPU), and is a former adjunct professor of education at CBU. He has authored numerous books, articles, and curricula, including works for Oxford University Press, Purposeful Design Publications, the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education (CACE), and ACSI. He co-authored content for Harcourt Educational Measurement and ACSI on the Stanford Achievement Test.
Dr. Nichols earned his Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership at the renowned USC Rossier School of Education, with a concentration in K-12 Leadership in Urban School Settings. As a 2015 USC Innovation Scholar, he was one of 68 selected scholars from USC, Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Arizona State University pushing education innovation to scale. He holds a Master of Science degree in Education from CBU; a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University; development and marketing certification from The College of William & Mary; and conducted graduate work at two seminaries.
Recipient of the USC Eli and Mary Elizabeth Stoops Endowed Scholarship, Dr. Nichols served in the former USSR as Administrative Director of the International School Project in Ukraine, working with the Ukrainian Parliament, Ukrainian President’s cabinet, and Russian Ministry of Education. He concurrently served as Educational Specialist instructing educators in Ukraine and Russia, including Ukraine’s national teacher credentialing school, and taught ethics and pedagogy as an adjunct professor while living in Kyiv.
“There is no mission, investment, or endeavor more important—or that carries greater consequences—than how we bring up and educate our children. We live in an age where there are those who would use our children for their own selfish ambitions and then just as quickly discard them. But Christ has called us to love and cherish our children, to protect them, to welcome them, to teach them the truth, and to set their feet on a path that God will bless beyond measure, both now and for eternity. That’s why we’re here. And that’s what we and God are doing together.”
– Dr. Vance Nichols
The ordained Southern Baptist minister has bi-vocationally pastored three churches, been honored for valor protecting students, and was as a U.S. Olympic trials athlete. He has also been honored as a student filmmaker, journalist, and prep soccer head coach. Dr. Nichols has served as a Christian conciliation court judge (arbitrator), an athletic league president, and was a freelance screenwriter for Paramount Pictures Television (Star Trek franchise). He is a member of Phi Delta Kappa International (USC Chapter), the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (USC Chapter; Life Member), and the National Association of Rocketry.
Dr. Nichols appeared in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 9th Edition; The Chancellor’s List, 1st Edition (top 1% of graduate students in the U.S.); Who’s Who in Religion, 4th Edition; and Who’s Who in America, 43rd Edition.
Most recently, Dr. Nichols was selected to the Kearny High School Alumni Association’s Distinguished Hall of Fame in the category Science/Education, with induction ceremonies scheduled for May 10, 2025 in San Diego.
Dr. Nichols and his wife, Carol, have four adult children and six grandchildren, and live in Riverside, California.