1. Goals or Outcomes

Eighty percent of the students will demonstrate a positive attitude for and participation in "active concern for the oppressed" in an urban or ethnically diverse community.

2. Quantitative or qualitative information

Direct measures

• Involvement in a local field education placement/experience
• Volunteer service in a community agency
• Portfolio of student papers from ethics course(s)/contextual studies course(s)
• Reflection papers on participation in forums with outside speakers from urban/ethnical­ly diverse communities
• Results of field supervisor evaluations of student work in social service agencies—such evaluations include feedback from clients in social agencies or sponsoring pastors regarding student performance

Indirect measures

ATS Profiles of Ministry report (social activism questions)

3. Assessment of performance

Examples of strengths

• Seventy-five percent of the students demonstrate participation in field education activities and a positive attitude in outreach to poor and oppressed communities.
• Reflection papers indicate appropriate integration of course work and field experiences in theological reflection seminars supervised by the field education director.

Examples of weaknesses

• Twenty percent of students have difficulty interacting with persons who come from different cultural/linguistic backgrounds.
• Fifteen percent of students in an inner city hospital CPE program experi­ence discomfort in responding to challenges related to ethical principles of end of life care taught in the ethics course.

4. Revised goals or activities

Faculty agree that the goal of the program needs to be reframed to include not only a positive attitude and participation toward oppressed/ethnically diverse communities but also to "develop skill in the analysis/application of ethical principles that are communicated in a contextually sensitive manner."

Examples of revised goals or activities

• Trained mentors from ethnically diverse communities will accompany students in the placement to provide guidance and support in the placement
• The ethics course will include panel presentations from ethnically diverse communities concerning culturally specific information on issues of end-of-life care.

The famous loop is "closed," albeit temporarily.