Each year, the director of the MPS Program will monitor the syllabi of courses being taken by MPS students to asses if they are being exposed to, and being required to write critically about major theological and pastoral themes that are outlined in the goals above.

Each MPS student is responsible for maintaining a portfolio for the purpose of assessment of her/his progress in the program. The student’s advisor should be actively involved in helping the student select materials for inclusion in the portfolio and will be responsible for discussing evidence of progress with the student after the student has completed 16 credit hours in the program. The advisor will bake written notes at that time and will insert a copy of the notes into the student’s portfolio.

During the final semester of coursework, the advisor will present a copy of the portfolio to the director of the MPS and to one other MPS faculty member besides the advisor who will review it with the purpose of assessing the success of the program in aiding the individual student to reach both the program’s and the student’s goals.

some representative work (critical reflection paper, report, representative journal entry, research paper) from each of the areas of the foundational courses – scripture, theology, pastoral ministry, and management.

a statement of professional goals of the student (It may be the one from the application form)

for the final review, a brief reflective paper on the contents of the portfolio assessing how the candidate has grown in meeting the learning, professional, and formation goals of the program, and how these goals can be helpful in completing the final Integration Project.

Surveys:

The MPS Program will administer two surveys.

One survey will be directed toward alumni who have earned the MPS degree and will be mailed to MPS graduates two years after they have completed their program. The purpose will be to assess how well the graduate feels his/her theological, pastoral, professional, and formation education was in light of further career experience.

The second survey will be administrated to candidates before the final review of their portfolio with the purpose of assessing their experience of the program as they approach the final Integration Project. This survey may also aid the MPS candidate in writing his or her portfolio assessment mentioned above.

The portfolios, survey, and other documentation collected and stored will be reviewed by the MPS faculty and director annually to help assess how well the program is doing in carrying out its mission.

When a new departmental evaluation is being prepared, the final student portfolio assessment can be sent to those who have graduated within the five year span with an opportunity for the graduates to revise or reaffirm their earlier reflective evaluation on the MPS program in light of later experience.

The director of the MPS program will report to the MPS Pastoral Board annually on the portfolio evaluations so they can use the information in their suggestions and directions for improving the pastoral effectiveness of the MPS degree program.

The MPS Program will evaluate the usefulness of the assessment tools outlined above as soon as enough materials have been collected. For the portfolios this can be done after the students coming into the program now have completed the degree. However, those already moving through the MPS degree program will be encouraged to prepare a portfolio. These can give us some early indication of the value of this tool. The other tools will be evaluated and discussed by the MPS faculty and the MPS Pastoral Advisory Board annually with special focus on the next program review date.