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A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment Program
                                               ABHE 2012 Workshop1

IN T R O D U C T I O N
   As you know, ABHE’s2 core values emphasize “spiritual engagement” and “spiritual
   enterprise.” This is the first core value listed by ABHE. It gives direction to all the other
   core values.
   Definition of Spiritual Transformation
   For the purpose of this study,3 spiritual transformation was defined as the shaping of the
   interior life—Cognition, Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion, and
   Compassion—so that life flows out in an integrative wholeness (head, hand, and heart)
   increasingly more like Christ (adapted from Astin, 2004; Boa, 2001; Gangel & Wilhoit,
   1994; Hollinger, 2005; McQuilkin, 1997; Willard, 2002).

   In attempting to get a grip on this subject, I researched the matter of spirituality, not only
   among Bible colleges, but in the general field of higher education and among Christian
   liberal arts colleges. Alexander Astin4 with UCLA’s Higher Education Research
   Institute stresses qualities like equanimity, spiritual quest, an ethic of caring, charitable
   involvement, and an ecumenical worldview. Among member schools of the Council for
   Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), Gay Holcomb conducted extensive
   interviews that provided the data from which she wrote her dissertation (Holcomb, 2004,
   pp. 1-3; Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004). Todd Hall,5 a professor/researcher at Biola
   University and a Senior Fellow of the ABHE, has written numerous journal articles. He
   developed the Spiritual Transformation Inventory, and he presented a pre-convention
   seminar to 23 of us Bible college administrators, just before the 2007 ABHE annual
   meeting. ABHE’s 2008 annual meeting was themed,6 “Fostering Spiritually
   Transformational Communities for 21st Century Impact.” That year, Jeff Gangel7
   presented the Student Relationship Assessment from John Brown University, and Gary
   Stratton assembled ABHE’s Spiritual Formation Network. Todd Hall presented an
   update of his data at the 2010 annual meeting, which I attended. The Council for
   Christian Colleges and Universities8 (CCCU, 2011) is currently conducting a study of
   spiritual formation, and ABHE has appointed a Spiritual Formation Assessment
   Committee that just submitted a report to the organization.

   Having communicated for a number of years with ABHE leaders and numerous Bible
   College leaders, I am convinced there is no single, widely used spiritual assessment
   instrument among the Bible colleges. I have also communicated with Dr. Beverly Lucas,
   who chaired the ABHE Spiritual Formation Assessment Committee and with Dr. Randy
   Bell. The leaders are still searching.

   In my own research, I interviewed Bible college leaders from a select circle of Bible
   colleges, led them through a modified-Delphi survey to identify their understanding of
   spiritual transformation, then through a second round of the modified-Delphi survey to
       1
         Display opening title slide.
       2
         Display ABHE logo and descriptors.
       3
         Display Spiritual Transformation is.
       4
         Display HERI, Spirituality in Education.
       5
         Display Todd Hall, Spiritual Transformation Inventory.
       6
         Display Fostering Spiritually Transformational Communities.
       7
         Display Student Relationship Assessment.
       8
         Display CCCU, Spiritual Formation.
Page 2 of 14

   convert those insights into a spiritual assessment instrument that would evaluate what
   they had agreed on as indicators. We wanted to know on the basis of those leaders’
   definitions whether students are experiencing spiritual transformation. The instrument
   also asked the students to what degree they attributed their spiritual transformation to the
   Bible college program.

   The Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment program I am presenting emerged from the
   literature and from those Bible college leaders. The construct may provide helpful
   insights as you develop your own ideas, or it may even be usable as it is. The multi-
   dimensional approach addresses doctrinal knowledge, personal commitment,
   conscientious behavior, interpersonal relationships, and the practice of spiritual
   disciplines, as well as reflection on whether the campus program is encouraging spiritual
   transformation. The construct9 can be summed up as Cognition, Commitment,
   Character/Conscience, Communion (κοινωνια), and Compassion. The initial study
   involved five colleges and 432 students.


I . MU L T I- DI M E N S I O N A L ST R U C T U R E S
   In my own research, I wrestled whether spiritual transformation should be a unifying
   domain that summed up all the other domains, like James Fowler’s stages of faith or a
   separate component. “Christian formation” could indeed be constructed as an all-
   encompassing domain, but we have a history of holistic Christian endeavors coming up
   with the heart missing.

   Marsden10 (1994), Burtchaell (1998), Dockery and Thornbury (2002), Carpenter and
   Shipps (1987), and others have warned that Christian values have a history of silently
   evaporating from Christian higher education. The histories of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth,
   Stanford, and many others have illustrated the tendency. Concerning the evolution at
   Pacific Bible College (PBC, now named Azusa Pacific University), Burtchaell observed
   that President Cornelius “set out to make his school deserving of accreditation, and in
   order to justify PBC to the academy he accepted the academy’s agenda as primary, and
   justified his Christian agenda as ‘an added plus’” (1998, p. 774).

   Fifty years ago, S. A. Witmer (1962/1970) proclaimed that spiritual transformation of
   students was a high priority at Bible colleges. Bible College web sites and literature
   stress that spiritual transformation is a primary outcome of a Bible college education, and
   in that sense, students come to “buy” spiritual transformation. In order for Bible colleges
   to ensure they are true to their proclaimed mission of spiritual transformation of students,
   their understanding of spiritual transformation must be defined and measured by an
   assessment instrument or process constructed specifically for this purpose.

   Considering Developmental Theories
   Just to stimulate your thinking, let me pass quickly over several developmental theories
   that might inform our theology of Christian development and more particularly our
   understanding of spiritual transformation.



       9
           Display A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment.
       10
            Display Marsden, Burtchaell, and Dockery and Thornbury book covers.
Page 3 of 14

    Bloom’s Taxonomy11
Bloom’s taxonomy and several related taxonomies come quickly to mind. In 1956,
Benjamin Bloom and a team of researchers divided learning into three domains. In the
Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, et al. (2001) updated version, the cognitive11a stretches
from remembering, understanding, and applying through analyzing, evaluating and
creating. The affective domain,11b outlined later by Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia
begins with receiving and responding, then rises through valuing, organizing values, and
internalizing those values so that they become characteristic of the person. This appeals
to me as relating to spiritual transformation, but it does not cover enough. The
psychomotor domain9c conceptualized by the original group was later published by
others. It engages perception, readiness to act, guided response, complex response,
adaptation, and origination (Atherton, 2010). A contemporary writer, Dettmer12 (2006)
suggested adjusting the third domain from psychomotor to sensorimotor, adding a social
domain, and then summing them all in a unified domain. I found Dettmer’s concepts
entrancing, but how do we get to what the Bible says about spiritual transformation? And
how do we keep the appropriate focus on it?

    Fowler’s Stages of Faith13
I have been intensely interested in James Fowler’s stages of faith (1981/1995) that
encompass the developmental theories of Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg and others. Fowler’s
third and fourth stages hold the most interest for working with college-aged students.
Many students come to our colleges in Stage 3.14 They are Loyalists, whose faith is
conventional and conforms to the people around them. They have not yet reflected on
their beliefs and values, and formal thinking is just emerging. We hope to move them to
Stage 4,15 to become people of reflective, individuatively chosen faith—Searchers who
have evaluated their own beliefs, who have established their own values, and whose faith
has become their own. That is probably unrealistic for many of our students. In fact,
Holcomb, (2004, pp. 112, 130) found that 32% of first-year college students in a sample
from six member schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities were in
Stage 2, with 64% in Stage 3. The disappointing discovery was that 69% of the college
seniors were still in Stage 2 or 3 when they graduated from college.

Fowler (1986) analyzed substructures16 in the various stages of faith, revealing interplay
among a number of factors: form of logic, role-taking, form of moral judgment, bounds
of social awareness, locus of authority, form of world coherence, and symbolic
functioning. Somewhat easier to grasp,17 Parks (2000, p. 91) identifies three dimensions
within the faith system: 1) form of knowing, 2) form of dependence, and 3) form of
community. A change in any one of these tends to produce a change in the others.
Fowler’s faith stages are fascinating, but Dykstra (1986) warns that Fowler is not really
describing Christian faith. In fact, Fowler constructed his system to be neutral toward the
content of a person’s faith; he could analyze the faith structures of people from many
religions or from no religion—even atheists! Imagine an atheist in Stage 4 conversing
with a Christian in Stage 2. He might be more sophisticated in his faith structure, but he

   11
      Display Bloom’s Domains and Related Taxonomies.
   12
      Display Dettmer’s Suggested Domains.
   13
      Display James Fowler’s Stages of Faith.
   14
      Display Fowler’s Stage 3, The Loyalist.
   15
      Display Fowler’s Stage 4, The Searcher.
   16
      Display Fowler’s Structural Aspects of Faith.
   17
      Display Parks’ Dimensions.
Page 4 of 14

is wrong in his faith content! Incidentally, that is what happens to numerous Christian
young people in a secular university. Henderson (2003) showed us the results are
damaging to Christian college students.

    Attachment Theory18
Todd Hall’s Spiritual Transformation Inventory is based on Attachment Theory,
pioneered by John Bowlby. When I asked for a quick summary of attachment theory,
Hall recommended Robert Karen, Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How they
Shape our Capacity to Love (1998), a very fascinating read. The way a person relates to
the primary caregiver in childhood develops a perceptual filter that tends to govern all
other relationships even toward God. Hall’s research is psychological and offers
excellent insight. As far as I know, I have read all his journal articles on this subject, as
well as the book19 he co-authored with John Coe (Coe and Hall, 2009), Psychology in
the Spirit. If you use attachment theory in your counseling, you can connect your therapy
with your students’ individual results from Hall’s survey. Nevertheless, without saying
anything negative about Hall’s approach, I believe Bible Colleges should use an approach
tied more closely to Biblical concepts.

    Summary Statement20
The advantage in making spiritual transformation, or “Christian formation” as some have
preferred, into a summary category that includes everything is that it can be held up as
the culminating goal for every function in the college, and it can belong to everyone. The
problem is that what everybody is supposed to do can easily become what nobody in
particular actually does, while each is busy promoting his or her particular discipline, and
we may someday have to confess, “As thy servant was busy here and there, [it] was
gone” (1 Kings 20:40, King James Version). The advantage in making spiritual
transformation a category of its own is that it receives specific attention. The problem is
that is can become separated from many activities of the college. Somehow we must
identify the mission-critical objectives and keep ourselves accountable through
assessment.

Choosing One Construct
Assessing spiritual transformation in depth seems to require21 qualitative methods.
Qualitative research methods like structured interviews excel at tapping into the rich data
of students’ spiritual journeys, but these methods are so costly in both time and money
that the sample must be much smaller. Institutional research simply cannot analyze the
majority of students at this depth. Quantitative surveys promise to cover much more
territory, but they seem to sacrifice depth.

Likert-type22 response ratings may help to bridge the gap between quantitative and
qualitative methods. Likert (1932) developed his rating system to measure attitudes, then
demonstrated that his results were similar to other methods attempting to measure
attitudes. Likert-type data can bear the weight of parametric analysis (Jaccard & Wan,
1996; Zumbo & Zimmerman, 1993). This type of question and response helps to
evaluate students’ affective as well as their cognitive levels.
   18
      Display Attachment Theory.
   19
      Display Psychology in the Spirit.
   20
      Display Dilemma.
   21
      Display Qualitative Research or Quantitative Research?
   22
      Display Likert-type Response Rating (Wesleyan Wellness Sample Item #2).
Page 5 of 14



Let me review our definition. For the purpose of this study,23 spiritual transformation
was defined as the shaping of the interior life—Cognition, Commitment,
Character/Conscience, Communion, and Compassion—so that life flows out in an
integrative wholeness (head, hand, and heart) increasingly more like Christ (adapted from
Astin, 2004; Boa, 2001; Gangel & Wilhoit, 1994; Hollinger, 2005; McQuilkin, 1997;
Willard, 2002).

I am using spiritual transformation rather than spiritual formation to emphasize the deep
changes involved in spiritual growth and to align closely with two scriptures:
Romans24 12:2,

                         “Be ye transformed (metamorphosed)
                            by the renewing of your mind,
                                that ye may prove what is that
                                    good, and
                                    acceptable, and
                                    perfect, will of God.

And25 2 Corinthians 3:18,

                         But we all, with open face
                            beholding as in a glass
                                the glory of the Lord,
                            are changed (metamorphosed)
                                     into the same image
                                from glory to glory,
                                     even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This multi-dimensional26 approach to spiritual assessment zooms into Cognition,
Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion, and Compassion.

    Cognition27
Cognition encompasses propositional truth (doctrine) cognitively grasped and believed
about God (as personal and Trinitarian), humans (as free moral agents), sin (as both act
and nature), salvation (received by grace through faith) as a present relationship,
sanctification (including a Wesleyan understanding of entire sanctification), personal
assurance of one’s relationship with God, eternity, ultimate meaning, even general
knowledge of creation as it connects with ultimate meaning. Items have been designed to
scale the degree to which the beliefs are held with knowledgeable conviction.

    Commitment28
Commitment entails personal commitment to God and His Word as having supreme value
for the individual; personal choice, going beyond a conventional, second-hand faith
(based more on family, church, friends) to a convictional faith (based on personal
   23
      Display Spiritual Transformation is.
   24
      Display Romans 12:2.
   25
      Display 2 Corinthians 3:18.
   26
      Display A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment (same as an earlier slide).
   27
      Display Cognition.
   28
      Display Commitment.
Page 6 of 14

   reflection) (Fowler, 1981/1995); personal commitment to Jesus Christ, to His commands
   and His commission; spiritual disciplines; self-discipline, disciplined choosing of the
   more excellent, choosing even against one’s own short-term gain, willingness to suffer
   for spiritual value.

       Character/Conscience29
   Character/Conscience involves integrity, consistent living out or “incarnating” one’s
   faith and values, obedience to Scripture; conscience as consciousness, conscious
   sensitivity to moral right and wrong; openness to the direct dealing of the Spirit;
   conformity to Christ, fruit of the Spirit; wisdom, discretion, choosing the things that are
   excellent; personal stewardship of time, talent, and treasure (financial responsibility).

       Communion30
   Communion takes in koinonia (Greek, κοινωνια) with God (prayer, worship, personal
   trust in God, sense of forgiveness from God), and koinonia with one’s spiritual
   community, with family, with people in general (including acceptance of others,
   forgiveness toward them, and global acceptance of the full diversity of humans as created
   in the image of God); acceptance of self; relationship to spiritual authority.

       Compassion31
   Compassion flows out in willingness to serve Christ through serving others
   (servanthood), sympathy for the suffering, the poor, and the imprisoned.


I I . DE V E L O P M E N T                  OF THE   IN S T R U M E N T
   Principles
   Properly executed,32 assessment guides everything. Of course, that is why we have to
   craft our assessment programs purposefully. Assessment uncovers what is, shows the
   distance to what should be, and points toward how to close the gap. I believe three
   principles should guide our efforts in spiritual assessment.33

       Couched in Biblical terms or concepts
   Spiritual assessment should be33a biblical rather than psychological in orientation. The
   strong emphasis on direct Bible study is a distinctive that sets ABHE off from CCCU.
   Christian liberal arts colleges focus on the academic disciplines, whereas Bible colleges
   give more direct allegiance to Bible study and application. I believe the Bible colleges
   should define spiritual transformation biblically, not psychologically, and not
   sociologically. If that is true, the Bible colleges may not be able to use the same
   instruments that the CCCU colleges do. Still, the research on spirituality from
   psychology and sociology does present features that are sometimes parallel and often
   quite helpful in understanding and assessing biblical, Christian spiritual transformation.

       Aligned with your theological and ecclesiastical commitments
   Spiritual assessment should be33b aligned with your theological and ecclesiastical
   commitments (especially for undergraduates). Otherwise how will you demonstrate that
       29
          Display Character/Conscience.
       30
          Display Communion.
       31
          Display Compassion.
       32
          Display Assessment and Planning Cycle.
       33
          Display Spiritual Assessment should be.
Page 7 of 14

you are accomplishing your Mission Statement within your Core Values? Unwittingly,
you could drift away from your commitments. Remember the warning from Marsden
(1994), Burtchaell (1998), Dockery and Thornbury (2002), and others. This also relates
to student recruitment and student satisfaction; students who are aligned with our mission
are more likely to be satisfied with what they find on our campus.

    Linked to your spiritual formation program
Spiritual assessment should be33c linked to your spiritual formation program. This
addresses the question whether your theology of development is closer to Biblical
counseling or to psychology. You should link assessment to therapy.

The benefit of a broad-based assessment instrument is comparability among a wider
number of colleges. The disadvantage is that it may not address what your college is
specifically trying to accomplish. Perhaps, there is such a diversity of definitions and
theological perspectives (Ma, 2003, p. 323) that no single assessment instrument will
meet the needs of all the colleges. The assessment instrument I am sharing was
developed among Wesleyans, but even if your college is not committed to that
persuasion, you may discover significant common ground. Alternatively, the method
used to arrive at this assessment may be helpful in your own setting.

One Example
People sometimes ask me,34 “Why do you even think you can measure spirituality?” I
acknowledge that we cannot measure spirituality directly. The Christian understanding
of spiritual transformation as sanctification and of sanctification as a divine work
suggests that there will always be deeper depths to plumb and that perhaps sanctification
cannot be measured empirically (Boa, 2001). I agree with Thayer (2000, pp. 20, 23) who
lamented “the reductionism that is necessary in empirical study” and explained that at
Andrews University, they measure34a “spiritual indicators” instead of spirituality.

As I mentioned before, I solicited Bible college leaders from a select circle of similar
Bible colleges, led them through a modified-Delphi survey to identify their understanding
of spiritual transformation, then through the second round of the modified-Delphi survey
to convert those insights into a spiritual assessment instrument that would evaluate what
they agreed on as indicators. We wanted to know on the basis of the leaders’ definitions
whether students are experiencing spiritual transformation, and we asked the students to
what degree they attributed their spiritual transformation to the Bible college program.

I used a Likert-type35 scale with no neutral middle point because the middle point might
not be truly neutral; it might mean that responders “don’t know” (Schacht, 2005), maybe
even that they “don’t care.” If this is the case, the middle ratings should be thrown out or
treated as missing data. I chose35a a six-point scale because it does not offer a neutral
option and because it provides expression for three degrees of strength in each direction.
Increasing the number of options beyond seven does not substantially increase the
reliability of the data (Cicchetti, Showalter, and Tyrer, 1985, p. 31). Students were asked
to rate a series of statements as 1 very untrue of me, 2 mostly untrue of me, 3 more untrue
than true of me, 4 more true than untrue of me, 5 mostly true of me, or 6 very true of me.

   34
        Display Can we assess Spiritual Transformation?
   35
        Display Six-point Likert-type Scale.
Page 8 of 14

   Ratings35b of 5 mostly true of me were taken to indicate that these traits were
   characteristic or habitually true in their lives.

   The instrument was piloted in one college (n = 48), then administered in five colleges
   (n = 432). The data was interpreted in a doctoral dissertation, which is available in
   portable document format (pdf) (Cooley, 2011). Now several other colleges are
   considering the adoption of the instrument in their assessment programs.

   The instrument is biblical, not psychological and not sociological. It is also conservative
   Wesleyan-Arminian. For convenience I called it the “Wesleyan Wellness Profile.” I
   acknowledge that perhaps no one instrument will fit all colleges. Nonetheless, this one
   may either be useful as it is or be adaptable to your setting. It does offer a research-based
   instrument for your consideration.


I I I . RE S U L T S          OF THE             ST U D Y
   Demographics
   Five colleges administered the survey to 432 students. Forty-four percent were male,
   55% female, with 1% missing data. Ages ranged from 17 to 59, with a median of 20 and
   a mean of 21.5. Ninety-four percent were full-time. Since only 4% had transferred, the
   data represents the experiences of students at those particular colleges. Ninety-five
   percent testified to being saved before coming to college. These are largely Christian,
   traditional college-aged, full-time resident students. About 85% of them expressed their
   strong desire to learn more about what they believed, to gain a more fervent spiritual life,
   and to become more effective in ministry. They came with the purpose of experiencing
   spiritual transformation.

   The study36 analyzed the level of students’ spiritual transformation, their rating of the
   Bible college experience, and the correlation between these two.

   Level of Spiritual Transformation
   What was the level of Spiritual Transformation?37 Students chose 5 mostly true of me, or
   6 very true of me for 90.1% of all the ratings on spiritual transformation (items #2-6;
   24,284 responses out of 26,958). The mean of all 63 line items (#2-6) was 5.56 (SD =
   0.325). The line item (#2c) relating to belief in the Trinity had the highest mean at 5.97.
   The lowest line item (#4m) relating to personal witnessing as the opportunities arise had a
   mean of 4.59, above 4 more true than untrue of me, but below 5 mostly true of me. The
   component means ranged from 5.89 to 5.35. Cognitive was the highest at 5.89;
   Commitment was 5.66; Character/Conscience was lowest at 5.35; Communion was 5.44;
   and Compassion was 5.40.

   In regard to the spiritual disciplines (#7),38 about 90% testified to practicing devotional
   Bible reading and prayer two times a week or more. Seventy and 60% percent practiced
   them daily. Church and chapel attendance twice a week ran 90% and 96%. Sixty-three39
   percent stated they take part in small group fellowship and prayer at least once a week.

       36
          Display Research Questions.
       37
          Display Spiritual Transformation Component means.
       38
          Display Spiritual Disciplines.
       39
          Display Spiritual Disciplines (continued).
Page 9 of 14

   On a less positive note, 51% said they witness once a month or less, and 59% said they
   practice fasting and prayer once a month or less.

   What these Bible college leaders prioritized was matched by what their students said was
   happening. The results suggest that these Bible colleges are meeting their goals.

   Perceived Effectiveness of the Programs for Spiritual Transformation
   What was the perceived effectiveness of the program for spiritual transformation?40 The
   mean of the line items evaluating the Bible College Experience (#8a-k) was 4.84 (SD =
   0.280), well above 4 some impact, but just below 5 strong impact. Students affirmed that
   these Bible college activities are contributing to their spiritual transformation. The
   highest rating went to school revivals and special meetings at 5.34. Next followed
   fellowship with other students at 5.04, school-related ministry practice or Christian
   service at 5.01, and academic courses at 4.97. The lowest in this section was dormitory
   life at 4.29. Again,41 the mean of these line items (#8a-k) was 4.84 and the correlation of
   this mean with the mean of all the spiritual transformation line items (#2-6) was a
   Pearson r of 5.12. Students who rated themselves higher on the lines assessing spiritual
   transformation also rated the Bible College Experience more highly.

   The mean42 of the line items evaluating the Campus Atmosphere was 5.30 (SD = 0.337).
   The highest mean went to “the faculty are devoted to serving the Lord” at 5.78. There
   was a significant drop for the lines related to other students. (Principal component
   analysis suggested the grouping shown in the table.) The mean of all line items relating
   to faculty and staff was 5.60, but the mean of all line items relating to students was 4.97.
   The mean of all these line items was 5.30. Students gave strong testimony that the
   Campus Atmosphere is contributing to their spiritual transformation.

   Students43 who enrolled in these Bible Colleges were already aligned with the mission
   before coming. They rated their own spiritual transformation very highly, and they
   testified that they are practicing many of the spiritual disciplines usually associated with
   spiritual transformation. They further testified that the Bible College Experience and the
   Campus Atmosphere are contributing to their spiritual transformation. Participants44
   who rated their own level of spiritual transformation higher also tended to rate the impact
   of the Bible College Experiences more highly. Age, number of semesters, and gender
   made very little difference in the way students rated their own spiritual transformation,
   the Bible College Experiences, and the Campus Atmosphere. The results suggest that for
   these students, the Bible college experience is indeed bringing about spiritual
   transformation.




CO N C L U S I O N S


       40
          Display Bible College Experiences.
       41
          Display Bible College Experiences (continued).
       42
          Display Campus Atmosphere.
       43
          Display Summary.
       44
          Display Summary (continued).
Page 10 of 14

Implications for Bible Colleges45
Knowing whether your students are growing spiritually is critical to keeping your
institution true to your mission. Knowing whether your students are aligned with your
mission before they come is a reality check for recruitment efforts. If you recruit students
who want something different than what you offer, retention will suffer. Recruiting
students who are aligned with your mission is likely to increase student satisfaction,
which will show up in improved ratings on student satisfaction surveys.

The original study was carried out with full-time resident students, but most of the items
would be valuable for assessing the spiritual transformation of distance education
students. It could be important to assess the distance education students and compare the
data with the results from the face-to-face population to see whether the mission of the
college is being carried out or whether the services to the two populations have distinct
differences. With distance education programs rapidly expanding, this could be vital to
keeping institutions true to their missions.
Recommendations46
I hope to see the further adaptation and use of this survey by additional institutions. I
hope to see longitudinal studies of the same students taking the survey at multiple points
of time in the course of their Bible college studies (freshmen, juniors, seniors). So far the
instrument has been administered on hard copy and the data entered manually, but Lucian
Chenard is working to put the instrument on ABHE-Surveys. That would make it more
useable to the ABHE colleges, and with individual log-ins could provide longitudinal
data.
I hope to achieve further analysis of the instrument. Principal component analysis
indicated there is one main construct being evaluated, with the first eigenvalue equal to
20! That suggested the use of an oblique rotation. The Promax rotation achieved the
most interpretable results. For the present, we are continuing to use the instrument as it
is. Interpreting principal component analysis is quite subjective, but I am open to further
analysis.
The Wesleyan Wellness Profile47 48 49 comprises the last three pages of your handout.
Do you have suggestions for possible future development of the instrument? Are there
any line items that would be a problem for your college? Are there any line items you
would propose adding? Should these be added for every college or only for selected
colleges?
I am willing to email the paper I presented today and the PowerPoint® presentation. The
paper has cues to coordinate the slides. I am also willing to email the dissertation. Just
give me your email address or take my card and email me. I want the research to be
useful.
I have published a related journal article in ABHE’s Biblical Higher Education Journal.
Thank you! 50
Word Count: 0 words – 744 in References @ 120 wpm = minutes




      45
         Display Implications.
      46
         Display Recommendations.
      47
         Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 1.
      48
         Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 2.
      49
         Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 3.
      50
         Display May the Lord prosper . . . .
Page 11 of 14

                                        References


Anderson, L., Krathwohl, D., Airasian, P., Cruikshank, K., Mayer, R., Pintrich, P., et al.

       (Ed.). (2001). Taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of

       Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.

Astin, A. W. (2004). Why spirituality deserves a central place in liberal education.

       Liberal Education, 90(2), 34-41. [Electronic version]

Atherton, J. S. (2010, February 10). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from

       Learning and Teaching Web site: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/

       bloomtax.htm

Boa, K. (2001). Conformed to His image: Biblical and practical approaches to spiritual

       formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Burtchaell, J. T. (1998). The dying of the light: The disengagement of colleges and

       universities from their Christian churches. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Carpenter, J. A., & Shipps, K. W. (1987). Making higher education Christian: The

       history and mission of evangelical colleges in America. Grand Rapids, MI:

       Christian University Press.

Cicchetti, D. V., Showalter, D., & Tyrer, P. J. (1985). The effect of number of rating

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Coe, J. H., & Hall, T. W. (2009). Psychology in the Spirit: Contours of a

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Cooley, T. L. (2011). Spiritual Assessment of Students at Conservative Wesleyan-

       Arminian Bible Colleges (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Available from

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Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. (CCCU, 2011). CCCU Report on

       Spiritual Formation. Retrieved January 28, 2012 from

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Dettmer, Peggy. Roeper Review, Winter2006, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p70-78, 9p, 2 Charts; New

       Blooms in Established Fields: Four Domains of Learning and Doing.

Dockery, D. S., & Thornbury, G. A. (Eds.). (2002). Shaping a Christian worldview: The

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Dykstra, C. (1986). What is faith? An experiment in the hypothetical mode. In C. Dykstra

       & S. Parks (Eds.), Faith development and Fowler (pp. 45-64). Birmingham, AL:

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Fowler, J. W. (1986). Faith and the structuring of meaning. In C. Dykstra & S. Parks

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Fowler, J. W. (1995). Stages of faith: The psychology of human development and the

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Gangel, K. O., & Wilhoit, J. C. (Eds.). (1994). The Christian educator’s handbook of

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Jaccard, J., & Wan, C. K. (1996). LISREL approaches to interaction effects in multiple

       regression. Sage Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07(114).

Karen, R. (1998). Becoming attached: First relationships and how they shape our

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Likert, R. (1932). A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology,

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Ma, S. Y. (2003). The Christian college experience and the development of spirituality

       among students. Christian Higher Education, 2, 321-339. [Electronic version]

Marsden, G. M. (1994). Soul of the American university: From Protestant establishment

       to established nonbelief. New York: Oxford University Press.

McQuilkin, R. (Ed.). (1997). Free and fulfilled: Victorious Christian living in the 21st

       century. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Parks, S. (2000). Big questions, worthy dreams: Mentoring young adults in their search

       for meaning, purpose, and faith. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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       61694596.20050620090136@terra.es]. Message posted to SPSSX-

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Willard, D. (2002). Renovation of the heart: Putting on the character of Christ. Colorado

       Springs, CO: NavPress.

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Abhe Workshop 2012 02 21 Text

  • 1. A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment Program ABHE 2012 Workshop1 IN T R O D U C T I O N As you know, ABHE’s2 core values emphasize “spiritual engagement” and “spiritual enterprise.” This is the first core value listed by ABHE. It gives direction to all the other core values. Definition of Spiritual Transformation For the purpose of this study,3 spiritual transformation was defined as the shaping of the interior life—Cognition, Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion, and Compassion—so that life flows out in an integrative wholeness (head, hand, and heart) increasingly more like Christ (adapted from Astin, 2004; Boa, 2001; Gangel & Wilhoit, 1994; Hollinger, 2005; McQuilkin, 1997; Willard, 2002). In attempting to get a grip on this subject, I researched the matter of spirituality, not only among Bible colleges, but in the general field of higher education and among Christian liberal arts colleges. Alexander Astin4 with UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute stresses qualities like equanimity, spiritual quest, an ethic of caring, charitable involvement, and an ecumenical worldview. Among member schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), Gay Holcomb conducted extensive interviews that provided the data from which she wrote her dissertation (Holcomb, 2004, pp. 1-3; Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004). Todd Hall,5 a professor/researcher at Biola University and a Senior Fellow of the ABHE, has written numerous journal articles. He developed the Spiritual Transformation Inventory, and he presented a pre-convention seminar to 23 of us Bible college administrators, just before the 2007 ABHE annual meeting. ABHE’s 2008 annual meeting was themed,6 “Fostering Spiritually Transformational Communities for 21st Century Impact.” That year, Jeff Gangel7 presented the Student Relationship Assessment from John Brown University, and Gary Stratton assembled ABHE’s Spiritual Formation Network. Todd Hall presented an update of his data at the 2010 annual meeting, which I attended. The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities8 (CCCU, 2011) is currently conducting a study of spiritual formation, and ABHE has appointed a Spiritual Formation Assessment Committee that just submitted a report to the organization. Having communicated for a number of years with ABHE leaders and numerous Bible College leaders, I am convinced there is no single, widely used spiritual assessment instrument among the Bible colleges. I have also communicated with Dr. Beverly Lucas, who chaired the ABHE Spiritual Formation Assessment Committee and with Dr. Randy Bell. The leaders are still searching. In my own research, I interviewed Bible college leaders from a select circle of Bible colleges, led them through a modified-Delphi survey to identify their understanding of spiritual transformation, then through a second round of the modified-Delphi survey to 1 Display opening title slide. 2 Display ABHE logo and descriptors. 3 Display Spiritual Transformation is. 4 Display HERI, Spirituality in Education. 5 Display Todd Hall, Spiritual Transformation Inventory. 6 Display Fostering Spiritually Transformational Communities. 7 Display Student Relationship Assessment. 8 Display CCCU, Spiritual Formation.
  • 2. Page 2 of 14 convert those insights into a spiritual assessment instrument that would evaluate what they had agreed on as indicators. We wanted to know on the basis of those leaders’ definitions whether students are experiencing spiritual transformation. The instrument also asked the students to what degree they attributed their spiritual transformation to the Bible college program. The Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment program I am presenting emerged from the literature and from those Bible college leaders. The construct may provide helpful insights as you develop your own ideas, or it may even be usable as it is. The multi- dimensional approach addresses doctrinal knowledge, personal commitment, conscientious behavior, interpersonal relationships, and the practice of spiritual disciplines, as well as reflection on whether the campus program is encouraging spiritual transformation. The construct9 can be summed up as Cognition, Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion (κοινωνια), and Compassion. The initial study involved five colleges and 432 students. I . MU L T I- DI M E N S I O N A L ST R U C T U R E S In my own research, I wrestled whether spiritual transformation should be a unifying domain that summed up all the other domains, like James Fowler’s stages of faith or a separate component. “Christian formation” could indeed be constructed as an all- encompassing domain, but we have a history of holistic Christian endeavors coming up with the heart missing. Marsden10 (1994), Burtchaell (1998), Dockery and Thornbury (2002), Carpenter and Shipps (1987), and others have warned that Christian values have a history of silently evaporating from Christian higher education. The histories of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, and many others have illustrated the tendency. Concerning the evolution at Pacific Bible College (PBC, now named Azusa Pacific University), Burtchaell observed that President Cornelius “set out to make his school deserving of accreditation, and in order to justify PBC to the academy he accepted the academy’s agenda as primary, and justified his Christian agenda as ‘an added plus’” (1998, p. 774). Fifty years ago, S. A. Witmer (1962/1970) proclaimed that spiritual transformation of students was a high priority at Bible colleges. Bible College web sites and literature stress that spiritual transformation is a primary outcome of a Bible college education, and in that sense, students come to “buy” spiritual transformation. In order for Bible colleges to ensure they are true to their proclaimed mission of spiritual transformation of students, their understanding of spiritual transformation must be defined and measured by an assessment instrument or process constructed specifically for this purpose. Considering Developmental Theories Just to stimulate your thinking, let me pass quickly over several developmental theories that might inform our theology of Christian development and more particularly our understanding of spiritual transformation. 9 Display A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment. 10 Display Marsden, Burtchaell, and Dockery and Thornbury book covers.
  • 3. Page 3 of 14 Bloom’s Taxonomy11 Bloom’s taxonomy and several related taxonomies come quickly to mind. In 1956, Benjamin Bloom and a team of researchers divided learning into three domains. In the Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, et al. (2001) updated version, the cognitive11a stretches from remembering, understanding, and applying through analyzing, evaluating and creating. The affective domain,11b outlined later by Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia begins with receiving and responding, then rises through valuing, organizing values, and internalizing those values so that they become characteristic of the person. This appeals to me as relating to spiritual transformation, but it does not cover enough. The psychomotor domain9c conceptualized by the original group was later published by others. It engages perception, readiness to act, guided response, complex response, adaptation, and origination (Atherton, 2010). A contemporary writer, Dettmer12 (2006) suggested adjusting the third domain from psychomotor to sensorimotor, adding a social domain, and then summing them all in a unified domain. I found Dettmer’s concepts entrancing, but how do we get to what the Bible says about spiritual transformation? And how do we keep the appropriate focus on it? Fowler’s Stages of Faith13 I have been intensely interested in James Fowler’s stages of faith (1981/1995) that encompass the developmental theories of Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg and others. Fowler’s third and fourth stages hold the most interest for working with college-aged students. Many students come to our colleges in Stage 3.14 They are Loyalists, whose faith is conventional and conforms to the people around them. They have not yet reflected on their beliefs and values, and formal thinking is just emerging. We hope to move them to Stage 4,15 to become people of reflective, individuatively chosen faith—Searchers who have evaluated their own beliefs, who have established their own values, and whose faith has become their own. That is probably unrealistic for many of our students. In fact, Holcomb, (2004, pp. 112, 130) found that 32% of first-year college students in a sample from six member schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities were in Stage 2, with 64% in Stage 3. The disappointing discovery was that 69% of the college seniors were still in Stage 2 or 3 when they graduated from college. Fowler (1986) analyzed substructures16 in the various stages of faith, revealing interplay among a number of factors: form of logic, role-taking, form of moral judgment, bounds of social awareness, locus of authority, form of world coherence, and symbolic functioning. Somewhat easier to grasp,17 Parks (2000, p. 91) identifies three dimensions within the faith system: 1) form of knowing, 2) form of dependence, and 3) form of community. A change in any one of these tends to produce a change in the others. Fowler’s faith stages are fascinating, but Dykstra (1986) warns that Fowler is not really describing Christian faith. In fact, Fowler constructed his system to be neutral toward the content of a person’s faith; he could analyze the faith structures of people from many religions or from no religion—even atheists! Imagine an atheist in Stage 4 conversing with a Christian in Stage 2. He might be more sophisticated in his faith structure, but he 11 Display Bloom’s Domains and Related Taxonomies. 12 Display Dettmer’s Suggested Domains. 13 Display James Fowler’s Stages of Faith. 14 Display Fowler’s Stage 3, The Loyalist. 15 Display Fowler’s Stage 4, The Searcher. 16 Display Fowler’s Structural Aspects of Faith. 17 Display Parks’ Dimensions.
  • 4. Page 4 of 14 is wrong in his faith content! Incidentally, that is what happens to numerous Christian young people in a secular university. Henderson (2003) showed us the results are damaging to Christian college students. Attachment Theory18 Todd Hall’s Spiritual Transformation Inventory is based on Attachment Theory, pioneered by John Bowlby. When I asked for a quick summary of attachment theory, Hall recommended Robert Karen, Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How they Shape our Capacity to Love (1998), a very fascinating read. The way a person relates to the primary caregiver in childhood develops a perceptual filter that tends to govern all other relationships even toward God. Hall’s research is psychological and offers excellent insight. As far as I know, I have read all his journal articles on this subject, as well as the book19 he co-authored with John Coe (Coe and Hall, 2009), Psychology in the Spirit. If you use attachment theory in your counseling, you can connect your therapy with your students’ individual results from Hall’s survey. Nevertheless, without saying anything negative about Hall’s approach, I believe Bible Colleges should use an approach tied more closely to Biblical concepts. Summary Statement20 The advantage in making spiritual transformation, or “Christian formation” as some have preferred, into a summary category that includes everything is that it can be held up as the culminating goal for every function in the college, and it can belong to everyone. The problem is that what everybody is supposed to do can easily become what nobody in particular actually does, while each is busy promoting his or her particular discipline, and we may someday have to confess, “As thy servant was busy here and there, [it] was gone” (1 Kings 20:40, King James Version). The advantage in making spiritual transformation a category of its own is that it receives specific attention. The problem is that is can become separated from many activities of the college. Somehow we must identify the mission-critical objectives and keep ourselves accountable through assessment. Choosing One Construct Assessing spiritual transformation in depth seems to require21 qualitative methods. Qualitative research methods like structured interviews excel at tapping into the rich data of students’ spiritual journeys, but these methods are so costly in both time and money that the sample must be much smaller. Institutional research simply cannot analyze the majority of students at this depth. Quantitative surveys promise to cover much more territory, but they seem to sacrifice depth. Likert-type22 response ratings may help to bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative methods. Likert (1932) developed his rating system to measure attitudes, then demonstrated that his results were similar to other methods attempting to measure attitudes. Likert-type data can bear the weight of parametric analysis (Jaccard & Wan, 1996; Zumbo & Zimmerman, 1993). This type of question and response helps to evaluate students’ affective as well as their cognitive levels. 18 Display Attachment Theory. 19 Display Psychology in the Spirit. 20 Display Dilemma. 21 Display Qualitative Research or Quantitative Research? 22 Display Likert-type Response Rating (Wesleyan Wellness Sample Item #2).
  • 5. Page 5 of 14 Let me review our definition. For the purpose of this study,23 spiritual transformation was defined as the shaping of the interior life—Cognition, Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion, and Compassion—so that life flows out in an integrative wholeness (head, hand, and heart) increasingly more like Christ (adapted from Astin, 2004; Boa, 2001; Gangel & Wilhoit, 1994; Hollinger, 2005; McQuilkin, 1997; Willard, 2002). I am using spiritual transformation rather than spiritual formation to emphasize the deep changes involved in spiritual growth and to align closely with two scriptures: Romans24 12:2, “Be ye transformed (metamorphosed) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. And25 2 Corinthians 3:18, But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (metamorphosed) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This multi-dimensional26 approach to spiritual assessment zooms into Cognition, Commitment, Character/Conscience, Communion, and Compassion. Cognition27 Cognition encompasses propositional truth (doctrine) cognitively grasped and believed about God (as personal and Trinitarian), humans (as free moral agents), sin (as both act and nature), salvation (received by grace through faith) as a present relationship, sanctification (including a Wesleyan understanding of entire sanctification), personal assurance of one’s relationship with God, eternity, ultimate meaning, even general knowledge of creation as it connects with ultimate meaning. Items have been designed to scale the degree to which the beliefs are held with knowledgeable conviction. Commitment28 Commitment entails personal commitment to God and His Word as having supreme value for the individual; personal choice, going beyond a conventional, second-hand faith (based more on family, church, friends) to a convictional faith (based on personal 23 Display Spiritual Transformation is. 24 Display Romans 12:2. 25 Display 2 Corinthians 3:18. 26 Display A Multi-Dimensional Spiritual Assessment (same as an earlier slide). 27 Display Cognition. 28 Display Commitment.
  • 6. Page 6 of 14 reflection) (Fowler, 1981/1995); personal commitment to Jesus Christ, to His commands and His commission; spiritual disciplines; self-discipline, disciplined choosing of the more excellent, choosing even against one’s own short-term gain, willingness to suffer for spiritual value. Character/Conscience29 Character/Conscience involves integrity, consistent living out or “incarnating” one’s faith and values, obedience to Scripture; conscience as consciousness, conscious sensitivity to moral right and wrong; openness to the direct dealing of the Spirit; conformity to Christ, fruit of the Spirit; wisdom, discretion, choosing the things that are excellent; personal stewardship of time, talent, and treasure (financial responsibility). Communion30 Communion takes in koinonia (Greek, κοινωνια) with God (prayer, worship, personal trust in God, sense of forgiveness from God), and koinonia with one’s spiritual community, with family, with people in general (including acceptance of others, forgiveness toward them, and global acceptance of the full diversity of humans as created in the image of God); acceptance of self; relationship to spiritual authority. Compassion31 Compassion flows out in willingness to serve Christ through serving others (servanthood), sympathy for the suffering, the poor, and the imprisoned. I I . DE V E L O P M E N T OF THE IN S T R U M E N T Principles Properly executed,32 assessment guides everything. Of course, that is why we have to craft our assessment programs purposefully. Assessment uncovers what is, shows the distance to what should be, and points toward how to close the gap. I believe three principles should guide our efforts in spiritual assessment.33 Couched in Biblical terms or concepts Spiritual assessment should be33a biblical rather than psychological in orientation. The strong emphasis on direct Bible study is a distinctive that sets ABHE off from CCCU. Christian liberal arts colleges focus on the academic disciplines, whereas Bible colleges give more direct allegiance to Bible study and application. I believe the Bible colleges should define spiritual transformation biblically, not psychologically, and not sociologically. If that is true, the Bible colleges may not be able to use the same instruments that the CCCU colleges do. Still, the research on spirituality from psychology and sociology does present features that are sometimes parallel and often quite helpful in understanding and assessing biblical, Christian spiritual transformation. Aligned with your theological and ecclesiastical commitments Spiritual assessment should be33b aligned with your theological and ecclesiastical commitments (especially for undergraduates). Otherwise how will you demonstrate that 29 Display Character/Conscience. 30 Display Communion. 31 Display Compassion. 32 Display Assessment and Planning Cycle. 33 Display Spiritual Assessment should be.
  • 7. Page 7 of 14 you are accomplishing your Mission Statement within your Core Values? Unwittingly, you could drift away from your commitments. Remember the warning from Marsden (1994), Burtchaell (1998), Dockery and Thornbury (2002), and others. This also relates to student recruitment and student satisfaction; students who are aligned with our mission are more likely to be satisfied with what they find on our campus. Linked to your spiritual formation program Spiritual assessment should be33c linked to your spiritual formation program. This addresses the question whether your theology of development is closer to Biblical counseling or to psychology. You should link assessment to therapy. The benefit of a broad-based assessment instrument is comparability among a wider number of colleges. The disadvantage is that it may not address what your college is specifically trying to accomplish. Perhaps, there is such a diversity of definitions and theological perspectives (Ma, 2003, p. 323) that no single assessment instrument will meet the needs of all the colleges. The assessment instrument I am sharing was developed among Wesleyans, but even if your college is not committed to that persuasion, you may discover significant common ground. Alternatively, the method used to arrive at this assessment may be helpful in your own setting. One Example People sometimes ask me,34 “Why do you even think you can measure spirituality?” I acknowledge that we cannot measure spirituality directly. The Christian understanding of spiritual transformation as sanctification and of sanctification as a divine work suggests that there will always be deeper depths to plumb and that perhaps sanctification cannot be measured empirically (Boa, 2001). I agree with Thayer (2000, pp. 20, 23) who lamented “the reductionism that is necessary in empirical study” and explained that at Andrews University, they measure34a “spiritual indicators” instead of spirituality. As I mentioned before, I solicited Bible college leaders from a select circle of similar Bible colleges, led them through a modified-Delphi survey to identify their understanding of spiritual transformation, then through the second round of the modified-Delphi survey to convert those insights into a spiritual assessment instrument that would evaluate what they agreed on as indicators. We wanted to know on the basis of the leaders’ definitions whether students are experiencing spiritual transformation, and we asked the students to what degree they attributed their spiritual transformation to the Bible college program. I used a Likert-type35 scale with no neutral middle point because the middle point might not be truly neutral; it might mean that responders “don’t know” (Schacht, 2005), maybe even that they “don’t care.” If this is the case, the middle ratings should be thrown out or treated as missing data. I chose35a a six-point scale because it does not offer a neutral option and because it provides expression for three degrees of strength in each direction. Increasing the number of options beyond seven does not substantially increase the reliability of the data (Cicchetti, Showalter, and Tyrer, 1985, p. 31). Students were asked to rate a series of statements as 1 very untrue of me, 2 mostly untrue of me, 3 more untrue than true of me, 4 more true than untrue of me, 5 mostly true of me, or 6 very true of me. 34 Display Can we assess Spiritual Transformation? 35 Display Six-point Likert-type Scale.
  • 8. Page 8 of 14 Ratings35b of 5 mostly true of me were taken to indicate that these traits were characteristic or habitually true in their lives. The instrument was piloted in one college (n = 48), then administered in five colleges (n = 432). The data was interpreted in a doctoral dissertation, which is available in portable document format (pdf) (Cooley, 2011). Now several other colleges are considering the adoption of the instrument in their assessment programs. The instrument is biblical, not psychological and not sociological. It is also conservative Wesleyan-Arminian. For convenience I called it the “Wesleyan Wellness Profile.” I acknowledge that perhaps no one instrument will fit all colleges. Nonetheless, this one may either be useful as it is or be adaptable to your setting. It does offer a research-based instrument for your consideration. I I I . RE S U L T S OF THE ST U D Y Demographics Five colleges administered the survey to 432 students. Forty-four percent were male, 55% female, with 1% missing data. Ages ranged from 17 to 59, with a median of 20 and a mean of 21.5. Ninety-four percent were full-time. Since only 4% had transferred, the data represents the experiences of students at those particular colleges. Ninety-five percent testified to being saved before coming to college. These are largely Christian, traditional college-aged, full-time resident students. About 85% of them expressed their strong desire to learn more about what they believed, to gain a more fervent spiritual life, and to become more effective in ministry. They came with the purpose of experiencing spiritual transformation. The study36 analyzed the level of students’ spiritual transformation, their rating of the Bible college experience, and the correlation between these two. Level of Spiritual Transformation What was the level of Spiritual Transformation?37 Students chose 5 mostly true of me, or 6 very true of me for 90.1% of all the ratings on spiritual transformation (items #2-6; 24,284 responses out of 26,958). The mean of all 63 line items (#2-6) was 5.56 (SD = 0.325). The line item (#2c) relating to belief in the Trinity had the highest mean at 5.97. The lowest line item (#4m) relating to personal witnessing as the opportunities arise had a mean of 4.59, above 4 more true than untrue of me, but below 5 mostly true of me. The component means ranged from 5.89 to 5.35. Cognitive was the highest at 5.89; Commitment was 5.66; Character/Conscience was lowest at 5.35; Communion was 5.44; and Compassion was 5.40. In regard to the spiritual disciplines (#7),38 about 90% testified to practicing devotional Bible reading and prayer two times a week or more. Seventy and 60% percent practiced them daily. Church and chapel attendance twice a week ran 90% and 96%. Sixty-three39 percent stated they take part in small group fellowship and prayer at least once a week. 36 Display Research Questions. 37 Display Spiritual Transformation Component means. 38 Display Spiritual Disciplines. 39 Display Spiritual Disciplines (continued).
  • 9. Page 9 of 14 On a less positive note, 51% said they witness once a month or less, and 59% said they practice fasting and prayer once a month or less. What these Bible college leaders prioritized was matched by what their students said was happening. The results suggest that these Bible colleges are meeting their goals. Perceived Effectiveness of the Programs for Spiritual Transformation What was the perceived effectiveness of the program for spiritual transformation?40 The mean of the line items evaluating the Bible College Experience (#8a-k) was 4.84 (SD = 0.280), well above 4 some impact, but just below 5 strong impact. Students affirmed that these Bible college activities are contributing to their spiritual transformation. The highest rating went to school revivals and special meetings at 5.34. Next followed fellowship with other students at 5.04, school-related ministry practice or Christian service at 5.01, and academic courses at 4.97. The lowest in this section was dormitory life at 4.29. Again,41 the mean of these line items (#8a-k) was 4.84 and the correlation of this mean with the mean of all the spiritual transformation line items (#2-6) was a Pearson r of 5.12. Students who rated themselves higher on the lines assessing spiritual transformation also rated the Bible College Experience more highly. The mean42 of the line items evaluating the Campus Atmosphere was 5.30 (SD = 0.337). The highest mean went to “the faculty are devoted to serving the Lord” at 5.78. There was a significant drop for the lines related to other students. (Principal component analysis suggested the grouping shown in the table.) The mean of all line items relating to faculty and staff was 5.60, but the mean of all line items relating to students was 4.97. The mean of all these line items was 5.30. Students gave strong testimony that the Campus Atmosphere is contributing to their spiritual transformation. Students43 who enrolled in these Bible Colleges were already aligned with the mission before coming. They rated their own spiritual transformation very highly, and they testified that they are practicing many of the spiritual disciplines usually associated with spiritual transformation. They further testified that the Bible College Experience and the Campus Atmosphere are contributing to their spiritual transformation. Participants44 who rated their own level of spiritual transformation higher also tended to rate the impact of the Bible College Experiences more highly. Age, number of semesters, and gender made very little difference in the way students rated their own spiritual transformation, the Bible College Experiences, and the Campus Atmosphere. The results suggest that for these students, the Bible college experience is indeed bringing about spiritual transformation. CO N C L U S I O N S 40 Display Bible College Experiences. 41 Display Bible College Experiences (continued). 42 Display Campus Atmosphere. 43 Display Summary. 44 Display Summary (continued).
  • 10. Page 10 of 14 Implications for Bible Colleges45 Knowing whether your students are growing spiritually is critical to keeping your institution true to your mission. Knowing whether your students are aligned with your mission before they come is a reality check for recruitment efforts. If you recruit students who want something different than what you offer, retention will suffer. Recruiting students who are aligned with your mission is likely to increase student satisfaction, which will show up in improved ratings on student satisfaction surveys. The original study was carried out with full-time resident students, but most of the items would be valuable for assessing the spiritual transformation of distance education students. It could be important to assess the distance education students and compare the data with the results from the face-to-face population to see whether the mission of the college is being carried out or whether the services to the two populations have distinct differences. With distance education programs rapidly expanding, this could be vital to keeping institutions true to their missions. Recommendations46 I hope to see the further adaptation and use of this survey by additional institutions. I hope to see longitudinal studies of the same students taking the survey at multiple points of time in the course of their Bible college studies (freshmen, juniors, seniors). So far the instrument has been administered on hard copy and the data entered manually, but Lucian Chenard is working to put the instrument on ABHE-Surveys. That would make it more useable to the ABHE colleges, and with individual log-ins could provide longitudinal data. I hope to achieve further analysis of the instrument. Principal component analysis indicated there is one main construct being evaluated, with the first eigenvalue equal to 20! That suggested the use of an oblique rotation. The Promax rotation achieved the most interpretable results. For the present, we are continuing to use the instrument as it is. Interpreting principal component analysis is quite subjective, but I am open to further analysis. The Wesleyan Wellness Profile47 48 49 comprises the last three pages of your handout. Do you have suggestions for possible future development of the instrument? Are there any line items that would be a problem for your college? Are there any line items you would propose adding? Should these be added for every college or only for selected colleges? I am willing to email the paper I presented today and the PowerPoint® presentation. The paper has cues to coordinate the slides. I am also willing to email the dissertation. Just give me your email address or take my card and email me. I want the research to be useful. I have published a related journal article in ABHE’s Biblical Higher Education Journal. Thank you! 50 Word Count: 0 words – 744 in References @ 120 wpm = minutes 45 Display Implications. 46 Display Recommendations. 47 Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 1. 48 Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 2. 49 Display Wesleyan Wellness Profile, p. 3. 50 Display May the Lord prosper . . . .
  • 11. Page 11 of 14 References Anderson, L., Krathwohl, D., Airasian, P., Cruikshank, K., Mayer, R., Pintrich, P., et al. (Ed.). (2001). Taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman. Astin, A. W. (2004). Why spirituality deserves a central place in liberal education. Liberal Education, 90(2), 34-41. [Electronic version] Atherton, J. S. (2010, February 10). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from Learning and Teaching Web site: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/ bloomtax.htm Boa, K. (2001). Conformed to His image: Biblical and practical approaches to spiritual formation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Burtchaell, J. T. (1998). The dying of the light: The disengagement of colleges and universities from their Christian churches. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Carpenter, J. A., & Shipps, K. W. (1987). Making higher education Christian: The history and mission of evangelical colleges in America. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian University Press. Cicchetti, D. V., Showalter, D., & Tyrer, P. J. (1985). The effect of number of rating scale categories on levels of interrater reliability: A Monte Carlo investigation. Applied Psychological Measurement, 9(1), 31-36. Retrieved from PsycINFO. Coe, J. H., & Hall, T. W. (2009). Psychology in the Spirit: Contours of a transformational psychology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Cooley, T. L. (2011). Spiritual Assessment of Students at Conservative Wesleyan- Arminian Bible Colleges (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Available from Proquest (AAT 3449525)
  • 12. Page 12 of 14 Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. (CCCU, 2011). CCCU Report on Spiritual Formation. Retrieved January 28, 2012 from http://www.cccu.org/professional_development/resource_library/2011/cccu_repor t_on_spiritual_formation Dettmer, Peggy. Roeper Review, Winter2006, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p70-78, 9p, 2 Charts; New Blooms in Established Fields: Four Domains of Learning and Doing. Dockery, D. S., & Thornbury, G. A. (Eds.). (2002). Shaping a Christian worldview: The foundations of Christian higher education. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman. Dykstra, C. (1986). What is faith? An experiment in the hypothetical mode. In C. Dykstra & S. Parks (Eds.), Faith development and Fowler (pp. 45-64). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press. Fowler, J. W. (1986). Faith and the structuring of meaning. In C. Dykstra & S. Parks (Eds.), Faith development and Fowler (pp. 15-42). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press. Fowler, J. W. (1995). Stages of faith: The psychology of human development and the quest for meaning (1st paperback ed.). San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. (Original work published 1981) Gangel, K. O., & Wilhoit, J. C. (Eds.). (1994). The Christian educator’s handbook of spiritual formation. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. Henderson, S. J. (2003). The impact of student religion and college affiliation on student religiosity. Dissertation Abstracts International, 65(02A), 428. (UMI No. 3122408) Holcomb, G. L. (2004). Faithful change: Exploring the faith development of students who attend Christian liberal arts institutions. Dissertation Abstracts International, 65(12B), 6686. (UMI No. 3158250)
  • 13. Page 13 of 14 Holcomb, G. L., & Nonneman, A. J. (2004). Faithful change: Exploring and assessing faith development in Christian liberal arts undergraduates. New Directions for Institutional Research, 122, 93-103. [Electronic version] Hollinger, D. (2005). Head, heart and hands: Bringing together Christian thought, passion, and action. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. Jaccard, J., & Wan, C. K. (1996). LISREL approaches to interaction effects in multiple regression. Sage Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07(114). Karen, R. (1998). Becoming attached: First relationships and how they shape our capacity to love. New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1994) Likert, R. (1932). A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 140(22), 1-55. Ma, S. Y. (2003). The Christian college experience and the development of spirituality among students. Christian Higher Education, 2, 321-339. [Electronic version] Marsden, G. M. (1994). Soul of the American university: From Protestant establishment to established nonbelief. New York: Oxford University Press. McQuilkin, R. (Ed.). (1997). Free and fulfilled: Victorious Christian living in the 21st century. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. Parks, S. (2000). Big questions, worthy dreams: Mentoring young adults in their search for meaning, purpose, and faith. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Schacht, R. (2005, June 20). Likert scale analysis [Msg 61694596.20050620090136@terra.es]. Message posted to SPSSX- L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU electronic mailing list, archived at http:// www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0506&L=spssx-l&P=37560
  • 14. Page 14 of 14 Thayer, J. (2000). Assessing student spirituality: The Andrews University experience. Journal of Adventist Education, 62(4), 20-26. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from Curriculum and Instruction Resource Center Linking Educators Web site: http:// circle.adventist.org//files/jae/en/jae200062042007.pdf Willard, D. (2002). Renovation of the heart: Putting on the character of Christ. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress. Witmer, S. A. (1970). Bible college story: Education with dimension. Wheaton, IL: Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges. (Original work published 1962) Zumbo, B. D., & Zimmerman, D. W. (1993). Is the selection of statistical methods governed by level of measurement? Canadian Psychology, 34(4), 390-400. Retrieved from PsycARTICLES.