ITC Statement of Educational Effectiveness

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1 ITC Statement of Educational Effectiveness The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) is committed to educate Christian leaders for ministry and service in the Church and the global community. ITC educates and nurtures women and men who commit to and practice a liberating and transforming spirituality; academic discipline; religious, gender, and cultural diversity; and justice and peace. The ITC approach to educational effectiveness requires vision, planning, performance and improvement. The visioning of The Interdenominational Theological Center made it a global, recognizable citadel of excellence in graduate theological education. Through the ITC experience, grounded in African- American traditions, students acquire a contemporary framing of seminary training that empowers and asks our students to become self-directed, academically and spiritually grounded, intellectually engaged, and socially responsible citizens, who understand and respect the diversity of the world s cultures and people. This is evidenced in the ITC enrollment from five different seminaries maintaining an ecumenical quality in its degree programs, increased enrollment in its distance education, delivery of the Master of Divinity degree, and its growing enrollment in its Certificate of Theology program. The planning of the ITC adopted an integrated curriculum for its Master degree programs of Divinity, Christian Education and Christian Music programs. The ITC prepares seminarians from their first day on campus to make wise academic and cocurricular choices leading to satisfying professional roles in the church and the community. To ensure all students benefit from the integrated curriculum in a timely manner. A revised plan of study and course block scheduling was instituted that increased the matriculation rate, the number of required core courses offered in a semester, and the number of students taking courses in the correct sequence. This block and track system was approved by faculty and instituted in the fall 27 semester. ITC s two-to-three-year graduation rate for these programs increased from: 38% in 26, 44% in 27, 55% in 28, 6% in 29 and 81% in 21. During these same years, the percentage of students taking four or five years has decreased steadily. Implementing the block-and-track system has been a major accomplishment for ITC. It demonstrated how institutional improvements can result from extended internal collaboration.

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6 C ol le g e CH Mason Semina ry Gamm on Theo Sem Richar dson Fellow JC Smith Semin ary Baptist Sch Theolo gy Phillips Sch of Theo Turner Theo Sem. Dist anc e Edu cati on Certificate Fall 29 Certificate Fall 21 Certificate Fall 211 Certificate Fall 212** Fall 211 Fall 29 Fall 212 Fall 21 Fall 211 Fall 29 Fall 212 Fall 21 Fall 212 Fall 21 Fall 211 Fall 29 Fall 212 Fall 21 Series1 Series2 Series3 Series4 Series5 Series6 Series7 Series8 Fall 211 Fall

7 The hallmarks of the Interdenominational Theological Center Experience seminarian self-formation and professional preparation prepares students to become spiritually grounded individuals who are ready to perform as church, academic and community leaders in an evolving, complex and competitive world. Graduates of the ITC function at every judicatory level in the Christian church nationally and globally, civic governance and community organization. The interdisciplinary nature of the ITC curriculum produced graduates who successfully completed doctoral studies in religion, theology, African American studies and counseling. The ITC through its Sankofa Center for Quality Enhancement and Data Evaluation has reconstituted its assessment courses and capstone courses in alignment with curriculum area outcomes for continuous improvement within all of its programs. The Sankofa Center (ITC s QEP) has begun curriculum mapping and the item task analyses to ensure valid and reliable measures across the curriculum to achieve degree, area, and course learning outcomes. Conducting degree program reviews to document the program learning outcomes, the multiple measures used, improvements made and the dissemination of those improvements inform key decisions that affect resource allocation and delivery of the programs. The assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes, the performance indicators (course, faculty and staff) of degree outcomes provides the level of quality in faculty, student and program engagement to achieve the ITC mission. The institutional assessment plan calls for the assessment and evaluation of all units. All units are sources for information (data) that influences the institution s effectiveness. Faculty, course and administrative and governance evaluations will be reviewed to establish an agreed upon criteria. The institutional assessment calendar ensures the timely implementation for timely improvements. Calendar of Assessment Cycles Year 212- Review and Improvement of Criteria Year 213-Data Analysis and Recommendations for Institutional Research Year 214-Use of Results and Improvements Timeline This is an exciting time for the Interdenominational Theological Center. The update to our strategic plan, Vision 215, has been a journey that has raised some challenging questions and initiated conversations among faculty, staff, students, alumni, board members and community partners.