Complying with ABA Standards 315 and 204: Questions and Answers
We recently held a webinar unpacking the requirements of ABA Standards 315 and 204, which in tandem require law schools to evaluate the efficacy of their program of legal education and to report on the results of that evaluation in conjunction with their accreditation site visit. It was a topic of great interest, with more than 160 associate deans and faculty members in attendance.
As I have written previously, the new standards (PDF) that go into effect in August now require law schools to develop learning outcomes at both the programmatic and course levels. It is these learning outcomes — or, more precisely, evidence of student attainment of these learning outcomes — that will inform the evaluation of the program of legal education.
There has been some confusion over what the Standard 315 reporting will look like. Fortunately, last November the ABA[1] published a draft template for the Standard 315 report, which provides some insight. Here’s what we know:
Law schools will need to refer to and attach an assessment plan in assembling the Standard 315 report. The assessment plan should indicate which programmatic learning outcomes are being evaluated which year and what evidence will be relied upon to determine whether students have attained the competency represented by each of the programmatic learning outcomes.
While a curriculum map is not required, the type of information a curriculum map would normally show is required, and, in my experience, creating a curriculum map is the best way to gather and analyze that information. Even if a curriculum map is not used, law schools will need some way of documenting which courses are addressing which programmatic learning outcomes. This, in turn, will reveal the extent to which the curriculum as a whole is supporting the law school’s mission and will also point to evidence of student performance that will be needed for the assessment plan.
In short, a curriculum map can show you:
- Whether your programmatic learning outcomes are being supported by the curriculum
- Whether your course learning outcomes are aligned with your programmatic learning outcomes
- Other curricular information, like the extent to which courses at the law school are preparing students for the NextGen Bar Exam
As readers of this blog know, I help law schools with developing learning outcomes, mapping curricula, and developing and implementing assessment plans. Please reach out to spollvogt@LSAC.org if you have questions or would like to discuss these ideas further.
[1] Here and in other blog posts, I use “ABA” as a shorthand for the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.
