Spring Valley Academy began as a dream in the mid 1960's when a group of physicians and businessmen met to discuss the future of Seventh-day Adventist education in the greater-Dayton area. The original Seventh-day Adventist school in this area, Dayton Junior Academy, was closed in 1968 and Spring Valley Academy began operation. Located on nearly 50 acres of property in Washington Township south of Dayton, the school and campus have been acclaimed for their design and beauty. Throughout the years, the many sacrificial gifts of the Friends  of Spring Valley Academy  have enabled the facilities to be enlarged and improved.

Today, the dream of the founders has become a reality. There are three divisions of the school with a total current enrollment of approximately 280: the elementary division; the middle school division; and the high school division.  In 1990 Spring Valley Academy joined the auxiliary services program provided by the State of Ohio for parochial schools. This program provides remedial learning, speech and hearing diagnosis and therapy, and psychological services for the students in a portable classroom adjacent to the school building.

Spring Valley Academy is chartered by the State of Ohio and accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Board of Regents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Currently, the school is operated by four Seventh-day Adventist churches in the metropolitan area: Beavercreek, Centerville, Kettering, and Miamisburg. The Ethan Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church is an affiliated church.

Though primary education for children was advocated by Adventists during the 1850s and 1060s, it was not until the early 1870s that the newly budding Adventist Church began to recognize and develop a denominationally-based school system. The Adventist interests in propagating education was founded upon the philosophy that students at all levels of schooling possess individuality and should be educated to use their God-given capacities to become individuals of principle, qualified for any position of life. Education was to begin in the home where the basic values of redemptive discipline and mental and physical health were to be balanced with the importance of work.

Since these early days Adventists have embraced the philosophy that education should be redemptive in nature, for the purpose of restoring human beings to the image of God, our Creator. Mental, physical, social, and spiritual health, intellectual growth, and service to humanity form a core of values that are essential aspects of the Adventist philosophy.

To ensure that the church gives appropriate and professional approach to the church's education interests, an Education Department was established on all levels of the church's administrative system, with responsibility to ensure that the Adventist philosophy of education and the principles of faith-and-learning are integrated into the life of each of its 1.1 million students in its 5,600 schools, colleges and universities around the world. Working closely with the education offices of the 13 world divisions (regions) of the church, operating schools in nearly 145 countries, staff at the corporate world headquarters helps to ensure the quality of of the global Seventh-day Adventist educational system and its work also includes collaboration with other ministries of the church to help nurture the faith of Adventist students attending colleges and universities outside the denominational system worldwide.

For further information on the Adventist educational system, go to the SDA Education Department web site which can be found at www.adventist.org