2007 Law School Survey of Student Engagement Now Available
Here's the 2007 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (pdf). Produced by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University-Bloomington, this year's LSSSE is based on online surveys completed by 27,000 students at 79 law schools.
Among the findings:
More than 75% of students rated their law-school experiences as good or excellent
More than 20% of 3Ls went to class unprepared
More than 33% of students will graduate with more than $100,000 in law school loans
Private law schools are more academically challenging than public law schools
African-American students are more frequently asked questions in class and participated in class discussions than other students
and an excerpt:
"The LSSSE core survey has helped expand our knowledge of law student engagement considerably, but there is more to discover. In 2008, we will introduce several sets of supplementary survey items to explore more deeply certain areas of student engagement. As legal educators continue to look more closely at the quality of the law school experience, provacative questions may arise. What is the best method to teach legal research skills? How do we make the most of students’ third year in law school? Does the traditional pedagogy suit the needs of 21st century lawyers? The LSSSE data can help us tackle these questions by enhancing our understanding of the underlying issues."
Sources: TaxProf Blog, Law Librarian Blog
