LEGAL RESEARCH LEARNING OUTCOMES

MEETING THE ABA STANDARDS ON SETTING AND ASSESSING LEARNING OUTCOMES Jennifer Laws

Electronic Resources Coordinator, UNM Law Library

Michelle Rigual

Director, UNM Law Library

WHY ASSESS LEARNING OUTCOMES?

MANDATE OPPORTUNITY

What Does Outcomes Assessment Look Like?

• Systematic • Purposeful • Improvement-oriented

Tools To Carry Out the School’s Goals for Student Learning = Outcomes

Outcomes Pyramid

All assessment images courtesy of: U. of Conn.

Assessment

, assessment.uconnn.edu

Essential Background

•

CARNEGIE REPORT

•

BEST PRACTICES

•

MACCRATE REPORT

WHAT IS THE ABA DOING?

ABA Revised Standards*

•

Chapter 3 -- Program of Legal Education (PLE)

• Standard 301 -- Objectives of PLE • Standard 302 -- Learning Outcomes • Standard 314 -- Assessment of Student Learning • Standard 315 -- Evaluation of PLE, Learning Outcomes, and Assessment Methods * Beginning 2016-17, the new standards will apply to the entering class.

Standard 301

OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAM OF LEGAL EDUCATION (a) A law school shall maintain a an rigorous educational program of legal education that prepares its students, upon graduation, for admission to the bar, and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of in the legal profession. (b) A law school shall establish and publish learning outcomes designed to achieve these objectives .

Standard 302

LEARNING OUTCOMES -- A law school shall establish learning outcomes that shall, at a minimum, include competency in the following: (a) Knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural law; (b) Legal analysis and reasoning, legal research , problem solving, and written and oral communication in the legal context; (c) Exercise of proper professional and ethical responsibilities to clients and the legal system; and (d) Other professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession.

Standard 314

ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING A law school shall utilize both formative and summative assessment methods in its curriculum to measure and improve student learning and provide meaningful feedback to students.

Interpretation 314-1

Formative assessment methods are measurements at different points during a particular course or at different points over the span of a student’s education that provide meaningful feedback to improve student learning . Summative assessment methods are measurements at the culmination of a particular course or at the culmination of any part of a student’s legal education that measure the degree of student learning .

Standard 315

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM OF LEGAL EDUCATION, LEARNING OUTCOMES, AND ASSESSMENT METHODS The dean and the faculty of a law school shall conduct ongoing evaluation of the law school 's program of legal education, learning outcomes, and assessment methods; and shall use the results of this evaluation to determine the degree of student attainment of competency in the learning outcomes and to make appropriate changes to improve the curriculum.

Interpretation 315-1

Examples of methods that may be used to measure the degree to which students have attained competency in the school’s student learning outcomes include review of the records the law school maintains to measure individual student achievement pursuant to Standard 314; evaluation of student learning portfolios; student evaluation of the sufficiency of their education; student performance in capstone courses or other courses that appropriately assess a variety of skills and knowledge; bar exam passage rates; placement rates; surveys of attorneys, judges, and alumni; and assessment of student performance by judges, attorneys, or law professors from other schools.

WHAT ARE SOME OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT BEST PRACTICES FOR LAW LIBRARIES?

• AALL Principles and Standards for Legal Research Competency • Watch the National Conference of Bar Examiners

Other Outcomes Assessment Best Practices for Law Libraries

• Mind The Gaps • Use Backward Design • Focus On The Ends Not The Means • Embrace Rubrics & Assessment Transparency

AALL Principles and Standards for

I.

Legal Research Competency

A successful legal researcher possesses foundational knowledge of the legal system and legal information sources. II.

III.

IV.

V.

A successful legal researcher gathers information through effective and efficient research strategies.

A successful legal researcher critically evaluates information.

A successful legal researcher applies information effectively to resolve a specific issue or need.

A successful legal researcher distinguishes between ethical and unethical uses of information, and understands the legal issues associated with the discovery, use, or application of information.

Principle I

• Standard A: An information-literate legal professional considers the full range of potential sources of information, regardless of type or format.

• Competencies • Differentiates between primary and secondary sources, and recognizes how their use and importance vary depending upon the legal problem or issue.

• Identifies and uses the most effective secondary sources to obtain background information, to gain familiarity with terms of art, and to put primary sources in context.

• Recognizes differences in the weight of authority among sources and applies that knowledge to the legal research problem.

WHAT ARE SWALL ACADEMIC LAW LIBRARIES DOING?

Library Comments

• We've been doing what the new standards require for ... eight years…. However, we do have a team of faculty members trying to create learning outcomes that are the same for all constitutional law classes, all civil procedure classes, etc.

Each class should have the same learning outcomes.

• We

survey

law students as to law library services. We rely heavily on teacher evaluations. We also survey students in our boot camp (offered the first week of the summer break - as a pass-fail course or for free as an audit) and in our Advanced Legal Research classes…. give[s] us a good snapshot of needs, research comfort, etc.

Library Comments

• Working with

Lawyering Process

.

• As part of the Library plan for the next year, we will be looking to see how we might be able to

integrate or assist to assess research outcomes in the overall curriculum

. At the very least, I am proposing that the

course description for ALR is updated

to reflect and assess research learning outcomes.

• Tracking all students progress on

rubric that matches

that are covered on the

bar exam

.

topics • Assessment has always been part of legal research courses. Now we have to

document the assessment that has been going on

.

Library Comments

• It's too early to say exactly what our library's efforts will be. A librarian serves on the law school's

Curriculum Committee

, which is discussing this currently.

• Putting learning outcomes into

syllabi

.

• A librarian is co-chairing the

Assessment and Teaching Committee

and another librarian is on the

Curriculum Committee

, both of these committees are working on learning outcomes. The library has not yet created learning outcomes for the required Legal Research course that we all teach, though some librarians include their own on their individual

syllabi

.

WHAT WOULD AN IDEAL LAW LIBRARY ROLE IN THE PROCESS LOOK LIKE?

WHAT ARE THE PREDICTABLE CHALLENGES?

Aside From the Obvious

Challenges You Can Expect Library

• Hesitation About Law School Roles • Broader Responsibilities • Need for Learning Theory Expertise

General

• Lack of Interest • Resistance to Change • Notions About Curriculum • Outcomes Assessment vs. Faculty Evaluations

QUESTIONS?

Power Point is posted at: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/swall/currentmeeting.html

Resources

ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND MacCrate Report:

A.B.A. Section of Legal Educ. & Admissions to the Bar,

Legal Education And Professional Development-An Educational Continuum: Report Of The Task Force On Law Schools And The Profession: Narrowing The Gap

(1992).

Carnegie Report:

William M. Sullivan et al .,

Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Practice of Law

(2007).

Best Practices:

Roy Stuckey et al. Best Practices for Legal Education: A Vision and a Road Map (2007).

Resources

STANDARDS

A.A.L.L.

Principles and Standards for Legal Research Competency

, approved by the AALL Executive Board July 11, 2013.

A.B.A. Section of Legal Educ. & Admissions to the Bar, 2014-2015 Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools .

A.B.A. Section of Legal Educ. & Admissions to the Bar, Transition to and Implementation of the New Standards and Rules of Procedures for Approval of Law Schools , August 13, 2014.

Resources

Debra Moss Curtis,

Beg, Borrow, or Steal: Ten Lessons Law Schools Can Learn from Other Educational Programs in Evaluating Their Curriculums

, 48 University of San Francisco Law Review 349 (2014).

Debra Moss Curtis & David M. Moss,

Curriculum Mapping: Bringing Evidence-Based Frameworks to Legal Education

, 34 Nova Law Review 473 (2010).

Debra Moss Curtis & David M. Moss, Reforming Legal Education: Law Schools at the Crossroads (2012). (This is an e-book, not available via the open web for free – hyperlink is to Worldcat record). Susan Hanley Duncan,

The New Accreditation Standards Are Coming to a Law School Near You – What You Need to Know About Learning Outcomes & Assessment

, 16 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 605 (2010).

Janet Fisher,

Putting Students at the Center of Legal Education: How an Emphasis on Outcome Measures in the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools Might Transform the Educational Experience of Law Students

, 35 Southern Illinois University Law Journal 225 (2011).

Resources

Dennis Kim-Prieto,

The Road Not Yet Taken: How Law Student Information Literacy Standards Address Identified Issues in Legal Research Education and Training

, 103(4) Law Library Journal 605 (2011).

Gregory S. Munro,

Outcomes Assessment for Law Schools

Teaching) (2000).

(Institute for Law School Kenneth R. Smith,

New Roles and Responsibilities for the University Library: Advancing Student Learning Through Outcomes Assessment

, Association of Research Libraries (2000).

University of Connecticut,

Assessment

, http://assessment.uconn.edu/index.html

visited April 7, 2015).

(last UC Hastings College of the Law,

Outcomes Based Education

, http://www.uchastings.edu/about/consumer-info/wasc/outcomes/index.php

updated April 8, 2014).

(last

THANK YOU!

Michelle Rigual, Director, University of New Mexico Law Library, [email protected]

Jennifer Laws, Electronic Resources Coordinator, University of New Mexico Law Library, [email protected]