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The Imperative to Promote Diversity Post-Students for Fair Admissions: Analyzing the Effects of Student-Body Diversity on Attrition, GPA, and Bar Passage in Law Students and Graduates
No full textIn June 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts declared the consideration of race in university admissions unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Now, as the era of race-conscious admissions draws to a close, this study examines whether the educational benefits that flow from racial and ethnic student-body diversity acknowledged in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) persist in a law school context. Using data from the American Bar Association (ABA), the U.S. Census Bureau, and institutional partnerships with 21 law schools, we model student racial/ethnic diversity on law school campuses as a predictor of law-school-level attrition (n = 183), law-student-level GPA (n = 5,129), and law-student-level first-time bar passage (n = 4,808) among under-represented law students of color. Campus diversity is operationalized as a Blau’s Diversity index. Our findings demonstrate modest benefits associated with racial and ethnic student-body diversity for student retention and first-time bar passage among underrepresented law students of color
American Law School Faculty Study
No full textAs higher and legal education continue to evolve, gaining a comprehensive understanding of law school faculty is increasingly important. To this end, the American Law School Faculty Study provides a snapshot of law teaching and today and is the first of its kind to detail faculty career pathways and work experiences as well as recent hiring trends in legal education.
Primarily drawing on two surveys, one at the school-level and one at the individual-level, this study details analysis of responses from 117 current or acting deans and 1,892 faculty members across 194 AALS member and fee-paid law schools. It was designed to investigate several research questions: Who are law school faculty today? What are the main career pathways to teaching law? What are the current hiring practices of law schools? What are the expectations of law faculty for earning tenure? What are the job responsibilities of law faculty and how much time do they allocate to each? How satisfied are law school faculty with their jobs?
In presenting novel findings about the current legal education landscape, the report offers key insights on law school faculty demographic profiles, professional experiences, and institutional characteristics, such as selectivity and governance
Bar Passage Data by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: 2023-2024
No full textThis source includes data on bar passage rates (first-time and ultimate) by race, ethnicity, and gender. The data comes from the American Bar Association\u27s 2023 and 2024 Bar Passage Questionnaires
Validity, Reliability, and Fairness Evidence for the JD-Next Exam
No full textAt a time when institutions of higher education are exploring alternatives to traditional admissions testing, institutions are also seeking to better support students and prepare them for academic success. Under such an engaged model, one may seek to measure not just the accumulated knowledge and skills that students would bring to a new academic program but also their ability to grow and learn through the academic program. To help prepare students for law school before they matriculate, the JD-Next is a fully online, noncredit, 7- to 10-week course to train potential juris doctor students in case reading and analysis skills. This study builds on the work presented for previous JD-Next cohorts by introducing new scoring and reliability estimation methodologies based on a recent redesign of the assessment for the 2021 cohort, and it presents updated validity and fairness findings using first-year grades, rather than merely first-semester grades as in prior cohorts. Results support the claim that the JD-Next exam is reliable and valid for predicting law school success, providing a statistically significant increase in predictive power over baseline models, including entrance exam scores and grade point averages. In terms of fairness across racial and ethnic groups, smaller score disparities are found with JD-Next than with traditional admissions assessments, and the assessment is shown to be equally predictive for students from underrepresented minority groups and for first-generation students. These findings, in conjunction with those from previous research, support the use of the JD-Next exam for both preparing and admitting future law school students
Putting the Bar to the Test: An Examination of the Predictive Validity of Bar Exam Outcomes on Lawyering Effectiveness
Full text linkHow well does bar exam performance predict lawyering effectiveness? Is performance on some components of the bar exam more predictive? The current study, the first of its kind to measure the relationship between bar exam scores and a new lawyer’s effectiveness, evaluates these questions by combining three unique datasets—bar results from the State Bar of Nevada, a survey of recently admitted lawyers, and a survey of supervisors, peers, and judges who were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of recently-admitted lawyers. We find that performance on both the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) and essay components of the Nevada Bar have little relationship with the assessed lawyering effectiveness of new lawyers, calling into question the usefulness of these tests
The Language of “Diversity” or “DEI”? Exploring Job Titles of Diversity Professionals in US Institutions of Higher Education
No full textDiversity discourse and related policy have been common in US higher education, and many such institutions employ diversity professionals. As diversity has historically been a contested concept, the language schools use to articulate diversity can greatly shape the discursive environment and work faced by diversity professionals, especially in the current moment of regular political attacks on diversity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices in US higher education. This study analyzes the language of diversity in US higher education via analysis of diversity-related job titles. We examine job title data collected from thousands of colleges and universities across the country over an 18-year period, with special attention to educational institutions\u27 use of “diversity” versus “DEI” terminology. We also analyze how institutional characteristics and contextual factors are associated with language in diversity-related job titles. We find that the language of DEI became substantially more prominent over time, rising steadily from 2015 through 2022. While this may change in the near future, our study illustrates that DEI language had some momentum in American institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the past decade. Notably, schools\u27 language choice has little association with institutional characteristics or contextual factors, which has implications in a moment where anti-DEI politics and policy are affecting IHEs around the country. We discuss our analysis in the context of the current political-legal landscape and consider directions for future research examining the language of diversity and DEI in US society
What High-Impact Practices Work for Minoritized Students? Institutional Inequities in College Learning Opportunities and Outcomes
No full textThis mixed-methods study examines what high-impact practices (HIPs) help improve the chances of college and career success among minoritized students. Building on transformative and ecological perspectives of HIPs, the study tracks U.S. 4-year college students’ learning opportunities towards bachelor’s degree completion followed by job employment or graduate/professional school enrollment. It explores a more comprehensive and diverse set of HIPs: academic and sociocultural engagement, study abroad, foreign language, co-op/internship, student teaching, advanced math and writing courses, research, and volunteer activities. Statistical analyses of the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) data reveal racial and socioeconomic inequities in HIP participation among different types of institutions, with relatively favorable opportunities and outcomes in private or research (doctorate-granting) universities. The qualitative analyses of college student interviews offer insights into the questions of why and how HIPs work (or not) for minoritized students. The study gives evidence-based policy guidelines for improving minoritized students’ college and career success by tackling institutional inequities in high-impact practices and learning opportunities
An Approach to Monitoring and Assessing Online/Hybrid J.D. Programs
Full text linkThe expansion of distance learning among American Bar Association (ABA)-approved J.D. programs has the potential to increase access to a legal education, especially for students who have traditionally faced barriers to J.D. attainment because of employment, family duties, geographical location, and other circumstances. Compared to attending class in person, distance learning provides greater flexibility and increased convenience and may also result in cost savings since students do not have to relocate or forgo earnings to enroll full-time.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only a few law schools offered ABA-approved hybrid J.D. programs, but the pandemic temporarily forced all law schools online and, subsequently, seems to have spurred the creation of additional hybrid and fully online J.D. programs. Despite the increasing number of law schools with distance education programs, there has been limited research on the successes and challenges these schools encountered as they initiated and grew their hybrid and online programs. We know little about which aspects of these law programs, including their specific pedagogies, are most beneficial to improving student engagement and learning outcomes and how the impact of these programs varies depending on student characteristics.
This guide serves as a primer to law schools and other parties interested in evaluating hybrid J.D. programs. Its instructions and recommendations are based on a recent formative evaluation we conducted of an ABA-approved, hybrid J.D. program. Within each evaluation step outlined below, we recommend activities, strategies, and issues to consider for both formative and summative assessments
Determinants of Success on the Bar Exam: One Law School\u27s Experience 2010-2023
No full textFrom 2010-2013, the UC Law SF first-time bar pass rate floated with the average first-time pass rate of graduates of ABA-accredited law schools in California. But suddenly, in the space of three years (2014-2016), the law school’s bar pass rate dropped to a much greater degree than changes in student metrics or statewide variations in pass rates could explain, to a historical low on the July 2016 administration of the California Bar Exam of just 51%. In response, the law school thoroughly revamped its approach to teaching academic and bar success skills. Within three years, the UC Law SF bar pass rate increased by about 30%. This Article uses statistical analysis to assess which of the law school’s academic reforms adopted after 2016 contributed to the law school’s bar pass turnaround
Legal Education Data Deck
No full textAccessLex prepares the Legal Education Data Deck for the use of the legal education community, policymakers, and others interested in the latest law student trends organized around our three driving principles: access, affordability, and value