Lessons for Legal Education from the Engineering Profession's Experience with Outcomes-Based Accreditation

Abstract

The engineering profession's experience with outcomes-based assessment and accreditation provides three lessons for legal education. First, the process of identifying educational goals and assessing whether they have been met can be a catalyst for curriculum reform and responsiveness to changes in the legal profession. Second, outcomes-based education need not consider only easily measured knowledge and skills but can also include such areas as ethical development in law students. Third, ambitious, institutionally focused outcomes assessment approaches are desirable, but even course-focused outcomes, based approaches can generate useful reforms, as demonstrated by a case study discussed in the article.

Keywords: legal education, outcomes-based, assessment, accreditation, learning theory