Measuring Law Student Learning Outcomes: 2013 Lawyering Class

33 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2014

See all articles by David J. Herring

David J. Herring

Independent

Collin Lynch

University of Pittsburgh - Learning Research and Development Center & Intelligent Systems; North Carolina State University - College of Engineering

Date Written: January 23, 2014

Abstract

This article demonstrates an approach to address the proposed change in American Bar Association Accreditation Standards that would assess law schools on learning outcomes rather than input factors. The study reported in this paper used a pre- and post-testing procedure to measure and analyze student learning gains in the core skill of legal reading and reasoning. The study’s primary hypothesis was that law students would achieve significant positive learning gains as a result of a set of instructional interventions introduced to supplement the traditional case dialogue method of law teaching. In contrast to studies of the traditional method alone, which found no significant learning gains, this study found that the introduction of the instructional interventions produced significant learning gains for the group as a whole. The interventions introduced in this study produced significant measurable gains in law students’ reading and reasoning skill during an early stage of their legal education.

Suggested Citation

Herring, David J. and Lynch, Collin and Lynch, Collin, Measuring Law Student Learning Outcomes: 2013 Lawyering Class (January 23, 2014). UNM School of Law Research Paper No. 2014-09, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2387855 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2387855

David J. Herring (Contact Author)

Independent ( email )

6958 Reynolds Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Collin Lynch

University of Pittsburgh - Learning Research and Development Center & Intelligent Systems ( email )

LRDC Rm 729
3939 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States
412-624-7039 (Phone)

North Carolina State University - College of Engineering ( email )

United States

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