ATS Commission on Accrediting guide presenting a principle-based, practice-oriented framework for institutional and educational evaluation in theological schools.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); Checklist for Effective Assessment; educational effectiveness; evaluation and assessment; institutional planning; student learning; student learning outcomes; theological schools

DESCRIPTION: Financial hardship can affect seminary students in ways that extend beyond material strain. Drawing on a sample of 189 graduate students from ATS-accredited seminaries, this study examines relationships among financial well-being, shame, depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The findings show that lower financial well-being was associated with greater shame, which in turn mediated relationships between financial distress and depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The authors suggest that shame may be an important mechanism for understanding the broader psychological and spiritual effects of financial hardship and student debt among seminarians.

KEYWORDS: anxiety; depression; financial distress; financial well-being; mental health; seminary students; shame; spiritual well-being; student debt; student well-being

Latent profile analysis of 580 emerging religious leaders identifies an "Integrated" profile with balanced dwelling and seeking, displaying the greatest flourishing among five relational spirituality subgroups.

KEYWORDS: flourishing; latent profile analysis; relational spirituality; well-being

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

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

Special Issue (book/journal reprint) of established and newly-developed instruments for measuring spirituality and religiosity across diverse populations, traditions, and clinical contexts, serving as a resource for spiritual care research.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; active duty military / veterans; attachment theory; Attachment to God Inventory (AGI); attitudes toward religion; Catholics; clinical setting; elderly; evaluation; exploratory factor analysis; factorial structure; gratitude; growth; healthy persons; Islam; measurement; moral injury; Muslims; post-traumatic stress disorder; psychometric properties; questionnaire; religiosity; religious beliefs; scoping review; Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM); spiritual jihad; spiritual needs; spiritual struggles; spiritual well-being; spirituality; structural equation modeling (SEM); styles of attachment; transcultural adaptation; validation

Conceptual article proposing a meta-theory of positive spiritual change to undergird the development of a generalizable, reliable measurement tool for spiritual, character, and moral formation in seminarians.

KEYWORDS: psychology of religion; spiritual assessment; spiritual formation; spirituality

A two-part resource by NCEA and ATS (2018) comprising a workbook with case studies designed to help Roman Catholic seminaries evaluate student learning and degree program effectiveness.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2012); Catholicism; degree program effectiveness; educational assessment; priestly formation; seminary curriculum; student learning outcomes; workbook resource; case study

Case study of Nazarene Theological Seminary's Wesleyan-Holiness approach to spiritual formation curriculum and assessment amid diversification and fragmentation of theological learning platforms and contexts.

KEYWORDS: assessment; curriculum; diversification; spiritual formation; Wesleyan-Holiness