Law school accreditation proposal aims to change how schools report job placement information
The National Law Journal
March 23, 2011
The latest proposed drafts of the American Bar Association's law school accreditation standards are out, and they would change how schools report graduate employment information, impose tougher bar passage rate requirements and ease limits on the number credit hours students may take through distance education.
The drafts retain controversial changes that have prompted public debate thus far — namely, the removal of what many consider a requirement that law schools maintain a tenure system; elimination of the Law School Admission Test as a requirement in admissions decisions; and evaluation of schools based on how well they achieve stated learning goals.
The faculties of three law schools have passed resolutions opposing any changes involving tenure.
The accuracy of law graduate employment data has been a hot topic for the past year.
In a letter accompanying its draft proposal, the consumer information subcommittee of the ABA's Standards Review Committee wrote that the existing requirement that schools publish "basic consumer information" and "placement rates" leaves much to interpretation.
