Resource Hub
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Assessing Student Formation: A New Set of Core Assessment Tools
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
Assessing Student Formation: A New Overview of Approaches and Challenges
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
Assessing Personal and Spiritual Formation at ATS
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
Setting the Frame: Standards of Accreditation and Evaluation
Heather Hartung, then-ATS Director of Accreditation, outlines how the principle-based ATS Standards of Accreditation center student learning and formation as quality theological education.
KEYWORDS: open access / free access; theological education; ATS Student Data and Resources Consultation (2025); presentation (transcribed); ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); Commission on Accrediting of ATS (COAATS); ATS Board of Commissioners; quality assurance; planning, evaluation, and educational assessment; slide deck
Self-Study Handbook
Handbook approved by the ATS Board of Commissioners in April 2020 and revised in 2023 and 2025 to guide member schools through the comprehensive self-study process for accreditation and reaffirmation.
KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); comprehensive visit for accreditation/reaffirmation; educational effectiveness; institutional evaluation; quality assurance; quality improvement; self-study report; theological schools
Standards of Accreditation (with Self-Study Ideas)
Current ATS Commission Standards, articulating principles and expectations for graduate theological education. This version embeds optional self-study ideas to help schools interpret accrediting requirements and demonstrate alignment.
KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Board of Commissioners; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); Commission on Accrediting of ATS (COAATS); comprehensive visit for accreditation/reaffirmation; educational mission and institutional effectiveness; graduate theological schools; mission and vision; planning, evaluation, and educational assessment; self-study ideas; student learning and formation; theological education