Chance Meyer (New England), A Model of Evidence-Based Practice for Law Schools to Improve System Outcomes, 55 St. Mary’s L.J. 727 (2024):

This improvement project models an evidence-based approach for law school decision-makers to find context-sensitive solutions to their context-specific challenges. The project took place at a law school focused on improving the system outcome of bar passage. We first identified influenceable variables most closely related to the target outcome in the law school’s learning community. Consistent with the literature, these proved to be high-difficulty learning activities supporting schema-development. We then learned how to optimize utilization of the key learning activities by evaluating the program as a five-stage training transfer system. Resulting program changes involved metacognitive and cognitive trainings. While we reached powerful findings specific to the law school’s problem and setting, how we reached those findings should be of greater interest to leaders in legal education. 

This project is an example of how a law school begins to architect success by discovering what matters most to a system outcome and learning how to influence it best in context.