As Finnish university admissions are reformed, more information is needed on the relationship between performance in prior education and later academic achievement. Transition to university is a critical period, and low performance in prior education is associated with challenges in later study. In the present study, law students' (n = 426)…

This study applies the conceptual framework of Positive Deviance, the theoretical framework of critical race theory, and the lens of marronage to understand the problem of low Black student enrollment at one American Bar Association accredited law school. The purpose of this study was to understand what current Black law students perceive to be…

Legal educators are routinely banning students' laptops or wireless connectivity in law classes. Faculty assumes students are significantly off-task and in-class laptops are harmful to learning. Current research focuses almost exclusively on undergraduate students technology uses in- and out of the classroom. Only a handful of studies objectively…

Students and the public routinely consult various published college rankings to assess the quality of colleges and universities and easily compare different schools. However, many institutions have responded to the rankings in ways that benefit neither the schools nor their students. In "Engines of Anxiety," sociologists Wendy Espeland…

As racial and ethnic population changes occur in the United States these same changes should be reflected in the legal community of lawyers and judges. Although Black and Hispanic populations have been increasing over the past 30 years in the United States, this same proportionate increase has not occurred in the American Bar Association (ABA)…

The literature on student academic success of law students is limited to mostly single institution studies, and as such, a nationwide, multi-institutional empirical study of the factors that predict student academic success is greatly needed by higher education scholars, law school admission officers, faculty, and administrators. This dissertation…

This study investigated the overall prevalence of discrepant Law School Admission Test (LSAT) subscores, their differential incidence for subgroups of examinees, and the psychometric properties of alternative measures of discrepant performance. The sample consisted of 39,350 examinees who took the LSAT in December 1991. Subscore differences, often…

In item calibration using LOGIST (M. Wingersky, R. Patrick, and F. Lord, 1987), when the program determines that it cannot accurately estimate the c-parameter for a particular item due to insufficient information at the lower levels of ability, an estimate of the c-parameters, called COMC, is obtained by combining all such items. The purpose of…

Test takers were asked to report which, if any, methods they used to help prepare for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The study began with the 1991-1992 academic testing year and ended with the 1996-1997 academic testing year. More than 100,000 students responded in each of the years, with the exception of a smaller sample in 1996-1997…

This report summarizes self-reported information about the kinds and extent of test preparation used by those taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). For the first time, in June 1989, test takers were asked to volunteer information about how they prepared for the LSAT. Approximately 75% of the test takers in June and September 1989 responded…

This study, a partial replication of an earlier study by B. Pitcher (1977), examined the validity of using initial, most recent, highest, and average scores in decisions about repeat takers of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). The study included only schools that enrolled 50 or more first-year students who had taken the LSAT on more than 1…

Since the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) was first administered, the sponsors of the test have carried out predictive validity studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the test and other predictors in determining first-year law school performance. This report presents a summary of correlation study results for the 1995 and 1996 study years. The…

This study was undertaken to evaluate the predictive validity of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) earned under accommodated testing conditions. Of special interest was the validity of scores obtained by test takers who were accommodated under nonstandard time conditions (i.e., accommodations that included extra testing time). Separate…

This study was undertaken to clarify the internal structure of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and shed light on the ability or abilities measured by the three item types that make up the test (logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension). The study used data for two forms of the LSAT for general samples of LSAT…

This book aims to give students a thorough overview of the contemporary law school experience. It provides a comprehensive chronological account of what to expect, drawn from the experiences of recent law school graduates, designated the "'Law School Confidential' mentors." The chapters are: (1) "Thinking about Law School? Think…