Knox Theological Seminary is committed to effectively educating men and women to declare and demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a wide range of ministry capacities. Knox’s students and alumni are scattered around the world, serving the Kingdom of God in vocational and non-vocational ministry work, serving as pastors, teachers, pilots, lawyers, writers, scholars, church planters, and in many other ministry capacities.
Knox Seminary’s core educational goals, articulated in our mission statement, give way to the general learning outcomes for all graduates as well as those specific to each degree program.
Assessment of student learning outcomes at Knox Theological Seminary is an administration and faculty-driven process that is regular and ongoing. Together, Knox faculty and administration regularly review and analyze key quantitative and qualitative data, measuring them in relation to the mission of the school, the learning outcomes of each degree program, and the success of our graduates.
Data collected from our alumni and graduating students are central, representative aspects of gauging our educational effectiveness.
Every three years, Knox surveys the alumni from every graduating class, and assesses four years’ worth of qualitative and quantitative data relating to employment and the Seminary’s ability to prepare students for work/ministry. The following data summarizes the most recent information received from Alumni Questionnaires distributed to the graduating classes of 2017-2020.
• 44% of respondents are currently working in a congregation; 6% are serving in missions; 17% are employed as educators, and 33% are involved in other ministry contexts.
• 66% of respondents were already employed in ministry work at the time of graduation, while 11% found their first paid position within six months.
• 100% of respondents currently serving in a congregation said their Knox Theological Seminary education prepared them “very well” or “very well in some areas but not in others” for their current work.
• 93% of respondents, when asked if they had it to do all over again would they choose Knox Seminary, answered, “definitely yes” (74%) or “probably yes” (19%)
A second, central component by which Knox measures its educational effectiveness is through the Graduating Student Questionnaire, distributed annually and reviewed every two years. Graduates are asked to rate the degree to which they achieved each learning outcome of their respective degrees. Data from the graduating classes ’21 and ’22 indicate the following:
• 100% of DMin, MACCS, and MABTS graduates agreed that they were competent in each learning outcome area.
• 92% of MDiv graduates agreed that they were competent in each learning outcome area.
