Teaching Tools for Law School Faculty

The author, a former English teacher turned law student, argues that law schools should "increase the quantity, quality, and variety of first-year assessments."

This article explores ways in which performance tests can, among other things, enhance student engagement and active learning. The Appendix summarizes ten performance tests in different areas of substantive law.

"This Article seeks to identify ways in which law professors can take steps to create formative assessment opportunities that will enable students to become successful, self-regulated learners."

The author advocates for a holistic approach to grading and evaluating legal analytical writing.

This article discusses empirical results from a natural experiment in a first-year Constitutional Law course. The authors conclude that "the combination of our study with other work in the area suggests that a causal relationship may exist between at least some formative feedback and enhanced student learning."

By encouraging grade appeals on midterm exams, more students review these exams and learn formatively from the experience.

The author argues that "there is a remarkable inconsistency between the method of teaching law school subjects by focusing on judicial opinions, ... and the method of testing law school subjects by using borderline fact laden hypothetical situations" and proposes that more professors use objective law exams.

"This Article explores alternative law school assessment methods and suggests ways to engage in empirical study of alternative and existing assessments."

"This essay is written to help those who want to incorporate multiple assessments into their courses envision what that might look like and to encourage scholarly exploration of multiple assessments on student learning."

Examines complaints law professors raise against the use of formative assessment in the law school classroom, and proposes solutions. The Appendix features sample formative assessment exercises.

This article includes "some guidelines needed to create a classroom culture that supports low-risk formative assessment tools.... The Appendix contains samples of low-risk formative assessments that can be used in various first- and upper-year courses."

This article discusses various means by which multiple-choice testing in law school could be improved.

The author argues that "[l]aw schools and instructors have undervalued assessment as a teaching tool and overvalued evaluation as an accurate, objective measuring device." The author proposes a "dualist approach to the evaluation function, enhancing evaluations as measuring devices and expanding evaluations to serve as pedagogical tools."

"This article makes the case for an assessment-centered legal education, arguing that when reframed, legal education can become assessment-centric without losing its core learning environment: knowledge. The article shows how assessment can become a central ingredient of the educational process through the use of design thinking and high-impact practice frameworks. The paper concludes with illustrations of blended and efficient assessments."

This article examines the use of model answers as a means of providing feedback, and offers suggestions for using models more effectively.

This article provides background and recommendations for understanding and constructing multiple choice tests.

The authors discuss how the use of short essay quizzes with individualized feedback assist students critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Dismisses the claims by Profs. Redlich and Friedland (below) that objective law schools exams would be preferable (and preferred) to essay examinations.

The author identifies ten myths about law school grading that are held by students and/or faculty and/or legal employers.

"This Essay provides a ‘systemic analysis' and a ‘total critique’ by assessing the structure, contextual relationships, values, and adverse effects of law school examinations."

"This article is an attempt to provide faculty and administrators a blueprint for incorporating an effective assessment program."

"In addition to encouraging law teachers and law schools to use assessments to improve student learning, this article provides a set of best practices for using assessments, and furnishes detailed examples of various forms of assessments."

"This article explores some of the the learning characteristics and expectations of this current generation of students. A more efficient and effective method of providing meaningful feedback is needed."

"This Article proposes a method of formative assessment that requires students to self-regulate their learning...." The authors call this method “Self-Assessment by Comparative Analysis,”requiring "a student to compare his own work to the work of an 'expert' on the same project, analyze the differences, and identify what he needs to improve and how he will improve it, focusing on both his product and his process."

"This article focuses on ways that professors can use the formative assessment process to improve the metacognitive skills of law students so they are more successful at transferring their learning to the new and novel situations they will encounter in the practice of law. Essentially, the goal of formative assessment should be to move legal education away from a focus on an end product-a memorandum, motion, negotiation, oral argument, etc.-to the underlying process of developing these products."

"This Article is divided into six different sections: the Introduction; the Lexicon of Assessment; Simplifying the Feedback Process; Teaching Assistants and Criterion-Referenced Assessment, an Example; Sample Assessment Tools; and the Conclusion."

This article criticizes the traditional "issue-spotter" law exam and suggests that it should be supplemented with an objective component.

The authors respond to Professor Jacobs' reply (above) to their initial article.

The author shares "introspection about my own practice of grading. These observations are divided into five sections, Invisible Practice and Practice, Beginner's Mind, NOW, Sangha, and Desire and Suffering."

"This contribution advances the understanding of law students' perspectives regarding assessment, offering empirical data on their assessment preferences in an online doctrinal course."

"Invaluable guidance has emerged on online teaching during the time of coronavirus, but less so on online final exams. This Article fills this void by offering various methods to maintain the integrity of final exams administered online."

"This Article has four sections: (1) a background section briefly reviewing metacognition and self-regulated learning; (2) a section arguing for the importance of self-assessment as a crucial skill for law students and lawyers alike; (3) a scholarship review section summarizing the history of exam wrappers as well as recent studies regarding their use in a variety of higher education settings; and (4) a proposal for the development and implementation of exam wrappers in legal education and best practices for their use."

"Exploiting a natural experiment at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2011 to 2015, this article empirically demonstrates that students who receive individualized feedback in a single first-year law school class outperform students who do not in class that they take jointly. This result rigorously confirms what much of the extant literature suggests--that providing students with individualized feedback designed to help them learn does indeed promote learning in law school. But it also does much more than that. In particular, it shows that the positive impacts of individualized, formative feedback extend well beyond the classroom in which that feedback is given, helping students compete in all their other law school classes."

"The purpose of this Article is to call attention to a variety of alternatives to this traditional format that are more accurate and less burdensome than traditional essay exams. Increasing accuracy makes it possible to determine whether the instruction has been effective, allowing the instructor to address areas of weakness before the course ends and to improve future classes. Decreasing the burden of assessment of student learning allows for faster feedback, which is more effective."

"Through live critique, the professor examines students’ work for the first time in front of students and reacts to it live. This article details the benefits of live critique for law students, which include enhanced learning, increased confidence, and practice-ready skills. It also describes how professors can boost the effectiveness and efficiency of their feedback by delivering it live. Finally, the article provides suggestions for professors in overcoming potential challenges and provides step-by-step guidance on how to integrate live critique into any law school course."

This article demonstrates the value of rubrics for both students' learning and professors' grading process. shows how rubrics enhance learning and teaching; Part III discusses how professors ease their grading burden when they adopt rubrics. The Appendix contains samples of rubrics for selected courses.

"This study provides evidence that formative assessments help law student
performance on a cumulative final exam, and addresses some of the concerns
expressed about integrating formative assessments into large-section doctrinal
courses."

The author offers alternatives to the standard end-of-term essay exam, and suggests professors can implement grading systems that provide more frequent feedback, but which do not increase time spent grading.