A Compass for Success: A New Direction for Academic Support Programs

50 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2006

See all articles by Ann Iijima

Ann Iijima

William Mitchell College of Law

Cindy Schmidt

Tapestry Center for Integrated Living

Abstract

The use of academic support programs (ASPs) has spread rapidly through law schools; today virtually all law schools have such programs. Although law schools have been experimenting with these programs for nearly 25 years, there still is little consensus regarding what type of program is the most effective.

In 2000, William Mitchell College of Law fundamentally changed its approach to academic support, moving from a voluntary to a mandatory program, from working with "non-traditional" to "at-risk" students, and coordinating the teaching of skills with one of the students' doctrinal courses. Using a quasi-experimental design, an evaluation of the program showed that students who participated earned higher grades than their counterparts in the matched control group from the last year prior to implementing the program.

Keywords: academic support, ASP, empirical study

Suggested Citation

Iijima, Ann and Schmidt, Cynthia, A Compass for Success: A New Direction for Academic Support Programs. Cardozo Public Law, Policy and Ethics Journal, Vol. 4, 2006, William Mitchell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 36, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=886420

Ann Iijima (Contact Author)

William Mitchell College of Law ( email )

875 Summit Ave
St. Paul, MN 55105-3076
United States

Cynthia Schmidt

Tapestry Center for Integrated Living ( email )

8275 S. Eastern Ave
Suite 113
Las Vegas, NV 89123
United States
702-530-1141 (Phone)
702-938-1023 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
220
Abstract Views
2,364
Rank
250,514
PlumX Metrics