The accreditation standards for law schools were amended on August 12, 2014, to require law schools to establish and publish learning outcomes that are designed to achieve the schools’ educational objectives, which must include competence in the professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession.
Law schools must require students to satisfactorily complete “one or more experiential course(s) totaling at least six credit hours.” Among other requirements, such courses must provide multiple opportunities for student performances and, with the exception of field placement programs, must include feedback about those performances from faculty.
The new requirements will be applied to law schools during American Bar Association (“ABA”) site inspections beginning with the 2016–2017 academic year. “[C]ompliance will be assessed based upon evaluating the seriousness of the school’s efforts to establish and assess student learning outcomes.” Factors for consideration include:
[W]hether a school has demonstrated faculty engagement in the identification of the student learning outcomes it seeks for its graduates; whether the school is working effectively to identify how the school’s curriculum encompasses the identified outcomes, and to integrate teaching and assessment of those outcomes into its curriculum; and whether the school has identified when and how students receive feedback on their development of the identified outcomes.
This Article focuses on the mandates related to teaching professional skills and values. It considers whether the new requirements will have any impact on improving the skills and values of law school graduates, and it proposes a way to create competent, affordable teachers of skills and values. It also encourages law schools to develop simulation-based courses that incorporate virtual worlds.
