Statement of Educational Effectiveness

Concordia Theological Seminary assesses its various academic programs to insure that students are accomplishing the learning outcomes established for these programs. Additionally, time to completion, graduation rates and vocational placements are monitored.

Master of Divinity

The Master of Divinity program is our largest academic program. Historically, 83.2% of students successfully complete the program in 4 years or less. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 91.4% completed the program in 4 years.

Graduation rates are also reported annually to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which uses 6 years as the time in program for this success measure. This measure has been reported to ATS for 4 years, students beginning fall 2009 – students beginning fall 2012. The historical graduation rate average for these years is 86.4%.

90.2% of the students who began in the fall of 2012 graduated by the fall of 2018
87.5% of the students who began in the fall of 2011 graduated by the fall of 2017
88.6% of the students who began in the fall of 2010 graduated by the fall of 2016
79.3% of the students who began in the fall of 2009 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that 100% of all pastoral candidates certified by the faculty and seeking a call to serve as a pastor are placed in a pastoral position. The graduates for the 2018/2019 academic year continue this trend.

Vicarage supervisors and members of the faculty directly assess nine student learning outcomes for the Master of Divinity program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 4.59 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This is slightly above the historical average competency of 4.43 for graduates from 2011/2012 – 2017/2018.

Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies

Six to seven women on average graduate with the Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies each year.

Historically, 92.2% of students successfully complete the program in 4 years or less. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 88.9% completed the program in 4 years or less.

Graduation rates are also reported annually to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which uses 4 years as the time in program for this success measure. This measure has been reported to ATS for 4 years, students beginning fall 2011 – students beginning fall 2014. The historical graduation rate average for these years is 85.2%.

95.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2014 graduated by the fall of 2018
85.7% of the students who began in the fall of 2013 graduated by the fall of 2017
80.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2012 graduated by the fall of 2016
100.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2011 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that 75.2% of all Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies candidates certified by the faculty and seeking a call to serve as a deaconess are placed in a vocational position. The graduates for the 2016/2017 academic year continue this trend.

Members of the faculty directly assess eight student learning outcomes for the Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 4.68 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This is comparable to the historical average competency of 4.73 for graduates from 2012/2013 – 2017/2018.

Master of Arts

Three to four students on average graduate with the Master of Arts or the Master of Arts Leading to Deaconess Certification degrees each year.

Historically, 46.3% of the students awarded the Master of Arts degree complete the work in 3 years or less. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 33.3% completed the program in 3 years or less. The remaining 66.7% completed the program in 3 to less than 4 years.

50.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2014 graduated by the fall of 2018
75.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2013 graduated by the fall of 2017
42.9% of the students who began in the fall of 2012 graduated by the fall of 2016
83.3% of the students who began in the fall of 2011 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that historically 55.7% of the program’s graduates are placed in a vocational setting. Of the remaining graduates, 11.1% receive a non-vocational placement, 7.4% seek further study, 5.6% are seeking placement and remaining 25.9% are unknown or other. The 2016/2017 graduates differ from this trend in that 100.0% of the graduates were placed in a vocational setting.

Members of the faculty directly assess seven student learning outcomes for the Master of Arts program. The 2018/2019 graduate had a 5.00 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This exceeds the 3-year average competency of 4.24 for graduates from 2014/2015 – 2017/2018.

Members of the faculty directly assess eight student learning outcomes for the Master of Arts Leading to Deaconess Certification program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 5.00 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This exceeds the historical average competency of 4.49 for graduates from 2014/2015 – 2017/2018.

Master of Sacred Theology

The program operates two programs, one on the CTSFW campus and the other at the international extension site at the Lutheran School of Theology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Between the two sites, there are typically eighteen students actively taking classes and exams in the Master of Sacred Theology program each year.

Note: The students in the Gothenburg program complete their course work intensively over three years with the fourth year devoted to researching and writing their thesis. We will see this difference most noticeably in the Time to Completion success measure.

Historically, only 22.7% successfully complete the program in less than 2 years, while 54.8% complete the program in 6+ years. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 55.6% completed the program in 6+ years while 22.2% completed the program in less than 2 years. The program director continues to make a concerted effort to encourage students who have completed the course work to finish their research and write a thesis. This activity accounts for most of the 2017/2018 graduates. In the summer of 2015, changes to the program structure were made with the goal to improve the time to completion rate.

Graduation rates are also reported annually to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which uses 2 years as the time in program for this success measure. This measure has been reported to ATS for 4 years, students beginning fall 2013 – students beginning fall 2016. The historical graduation rate average for these years is 41.4%.

30.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2016 graduated by the fall of 2018
70.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2015 graduated by the fall of 2017
40.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2014 graduated by the fall of 2016
25.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2013 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that historically 92.9% of STM graduates are placed in a vocational position. Of the 2016/2017 graduates,66.7% were placed in a vocational position while the remaining 33.3% are continuing with further study.

Members of the faculty directly assess seven student learning outcomes for the Master of Sacred Theology program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 4.92 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This exceeds the 3-year average competency of 4.69 for graduates from 2015/2016 – 2017/2018.

Doctor of Ministry

The current Doctor of Ministry program was re-envisioned for the 2013/2014 academic year. The new program is structured so that a pastor can complete the coursework and project in 3-4 years.

Historically, only 26.8% successfully completed the program in less than 4 years, while 42.3% of the graduates completed the program in more than 5 years. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 60% completed the program in less than 5 years.

50.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2012 graduated by the fall of 2018
100.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2011 graduated by the fall of 2017
50.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2010 graduated by the fall of 2016
25.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2009 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that 97.9% of all DMin graduates continue in a vocational position. 100% of the 2016/2017 graduates continued in a vocational position.

Members of the faculty directly assess six student learning outcomes for the Doctor of Ministry program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 4.78 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This slightly exceeds the 3-year average competency of 4.69 for graduates from 2015/2016 – 2017/2018.

Doctor of Philosophy in Missiology and Doctor of Philosophy in Theological Studies

The PhD Missiology program averages five to six graduates each year. The PhD in Theological Studies program launched fall 2018 with four students.

Historically, 61.8% successfully completed the program in less than 6 years, while 38.2% of the graduates completed the program in 6+ years. Of the 2017/2018 graduates, 50.0% completed the program in less than 6 years.

Graduation rates are also reported annually to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which uses 8 years as the time in program for this success measure. This measure has been reported to ATS for 4 years, students beginning fall 2007 – students beginning fall 2010. The historical graduation rate average for these years is 54.2%.

66.7% of the students who began in the fall of 2010 graduated by the fall of 2018
12.5% of the students who began in the fall of 2009 graduated by the fall of 2017
75.0% of the students who began in the fall of 2008 graduated by the fall of 2016
62.5% of the students who began in the fall of 2007 graduated by the fall of 2015

Reports to ATS show that 72.6% of all PhD graduates continue in a vocational position. Of the 2016/2017 graduates, 100.0% continued in a vocational position.

Members of the faculty directly assess seven student learning outcomes for the PhD Missiology program. The 2018/2019 graduates had a 4.66 average competency on a scale of 5.00, where 5.00 is exceptional. This is comparable to the 3-year average competency of 4.71 for graduates from 2015/2016 – 2017/2018.

Statement of Educational Effectiveness