ABA Journal, Pass Rates For First-Time Bar-Takers Decrease; Are Online Classes the Cause?:
Aspects of law school remote learning during the pandemic, including open-book tests, are being blamed by some for first-time bar pass rate decreases in at least 31 jurisdictions.
Most 2022 graduates had in-person classes until March 2020, which was during their first year of law school. Remote classes followed, including for much of the 2021 school year.
“What we have seen anecdotally is that students with most of their legal education online did not fare as well as students in the traditional modality,” says Raul Ruiz, an associate professor and assistant dean of bar exam preparation at Florida International University College of Law. …
Meanwhile, various law schools are adding hybrid online JD programs, and some academic support faculty members say more investigation and data analysis are needed to determine whether the offerings are effective regarding bar passage.
“I think the ABA needs to conduct additional studies on the effectiveness of remote learning, and if they have any data on that as it relates to bar passage, they need to release it publicly,” Ruiz says. The ABA does publish law school pass rates, but in-person and online graduate results are lumped together rather than parsed out by program type.
Experiences in online classes as well as the number of remote courses taken varies widely, Bill Adams, managing director of ABA Accreditation and Legal Education, told the ABA Journal in an email. According to Adams, few graduates of ABA-accredited online JD programs have taken a bar yet. Those programs are reviewed on an ongoing basis, he explained, and the council will assess bar outcomes when “a sufficient” number of graduates take a bar exam.
“Students and law schools tackled many challenges the past couple of years. Jumping to the conclusion that online learning has had a significant impact on bar outcomes is speculative at best,” Adams added.
