The definitive introduction to the Seminary Formation Assessment (SFA)—a 50-item suite of assessments measuring spiritual dwelling, seeking, struggle, and emotion regulation in seminarians.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; assessment instrument; Colloquy article; emotion regulation; psychometrics; Relational Spirituality Model (RSM); Seminary Formation Assessment (SFA); seminary students; sense of community; spiritual dwelling; spiritual formation; spiritual seeking; theological education; training resources; virtues

A 2026 ATS Colloquy research spotlight that offers the most comprehensive overview to date of the ways that seminaries, theology departments, and divinity schools assess student formation.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; assessment practices; Colloquy article; institutional mission; personal and spiritual formation; student formation; theological education; seminary; spirituality

Person-centered analysis using the Relational Spirituality Model (RSM) identifies four seminary student subgroups, with "regulated seekers" showing mature alterity, flourishing, and stable balanced spirituality over time.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; flourishing; mature alterity; mixture modeling; relational spirituality; spiritual formation

An overview of the approach to clergy formation at the Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), detailing its four core realms and methods for assessment.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Student Data and Resources Consultation (2025); case study; clergy formation; online / distance / distributed modality; pluralist Jewish context; slide deck; spiritual development; theological education

Presentation on how Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology assesses spiritual, human, intellectual, and pastoral dimensions of formation.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); ATS Student Data and Resources Consultation (2025); clergy formation; MDiv outcomes; Program of Priestly Formation (6th); seminarian assessment; slide deck; spiritual formation

Jo Ann Deasy, ATS Director of Institutional Initiatives, revisits the 2018 Formation Assessment Survey on how member schools understand formation and put assessment into practice.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; theological education; ATS Formation Assessment Survey (2018); definitions of formation; formation assessments and tools; ATS Student Data and Resources Consultation (2025); presentation (transcribed); newsletter article; study report

This (U.S.) federal report is based on an August 2023 expert panel concerning faith leader training, mental health, self-care, community partnership, and theological education.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; clergy burnout; conference proceedings; faith leaders; mental health; resource compendium; self-care; seminary training; theological education; well-being

Mixture modeling of 867 seminary students during COVID-19 identifies three sense-of-community subgroups (strongly connected, moderately connected, disaffected) with distinct well-being and spirituality profiles.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; flourishing; mixture modeling; relational spirituality; sense of community; well-being

Reflexive thematic analysis of 36 students at a Jewish pluralistic seminary identifies on-campus, off-campus, and non-seminary contexts of spiritual formation and uniquely Jewish formation requests.

KEYWORDS: Judaism; qualitative research; seminary; spiritual formation; virtue