2012 Law School Survey of Student Engagement

The Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) has released its 2012 Annual Survey Results:

The Law School Survey of Student Engagement focuses on
activities that affect learning in law school. The results show
how law students use their time, what they think about their
experience in law school, and what schools can do to improve
engagement and learning.

The selected results reported in this section are based on
responses from 25,901 law students at 81 law schools who
completed LSSSE in Spring 2012. …

LSSSE data suggest that students benefit tremendously from
their relationships with professors. Our analysis reveals
that interaction with faculty relates significantly to students’
perceptions of their own gains in both academic and personal
dimensions. Student-faculty interaction influences students’
assessment of their writing, speaking, and legal research skills; jobor
work-related knowledge and skills; and critical and analytical
thinking, among other factors. In terms of personal development,
student-faculty interaction positively relates to students’
understanding of themselves and others, and to their development
of a personal code of values and ethics and a sense of contribution
to the welfare of the community. Finally, interaction with faculty
also relates positively to students’ report of their grades.

Interaction with faculty not only affects students’ sense of
development, it also affects their overall level of satisfaction with
law school. LSSSE data show that student-faculty interaction is
strongly related to students’ likelihood of choosing the same law
school again and of their evaluation of their entire educational experience. Similarly, student-faculty interaction also
relates positively to students’ sense of the supportiveness of the law
school environment and to their perception of the emphasis their
coursework places on higher order learning activities.

Clearly, faculty matter to students. Given the strong benefit to
students of these interactions with faculty, it is reassuring to
note that LSSSE data do not show significant differences among
different groups of students in levels of student-faculty interaction.
No significant differences with regard to the amount of interaction
with faculty are evident based on students’ race, ethnicity, or
gender. While students with lower LSAT scores are slightly less
likely to interact with faculty, and students who report higher
grades in law school are slightly more likely to interact with faculty,
these relationships were small but significant. More influential in
terms of faculty interaction are student behaviors (asking questions
in class) and activities (moot court and law journal participation,
and leading a law school organization), suggesting that students
who are more inclined to speak up in class also are more likely to
seek out professors to discuss assignments and issues, and those
who involve themselves in co-curricular activities may have more
opportunities to work with faculty who are advisors.

Generally, law students report positive relationships with
faculty. Nearly half of students (45%) report that their
instructors are highly supportive and encouraging. More than
a third of students (38%) feel that their professors care about
them as individuals. Fifty-seven percent report feeling strongly
that faculty respect students.