The Seventh-day Adventist educational system is the second-largest Christian school system in the world, after the Roman Catholic system (see Catholic school).
It has a total of 7,598 educational institutions operating in over 100 countries around the world with over 1.5 million students world-wide.
The denominationally-based school system began in the 1870s. The church supports holistic education:
"Mental, physical, social, and spiritual health, intellectual growth, and service to humanity form a core of values that are essential aspects of the Adventist education philosophy."
The Journal of Adventist Education (JAE) is published.
In 2009, Heather Knight, who received her doctorate from Stanford University and completed post-doctoral studies at Harvard University, became the first African-American woman to lead an Adventist College in North America when she took over as President of Pacific Union College.
The North American Division Office of Education oversees 1049 schools with 65,000 students in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda.