The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar updated several standards relating to learning outcomes that must be implemented by the start of 2026-2027 academic year.  Standard 314 has been revised to require law schools to use formative assessment methods throughout their curricula.  Here is the text of the new standard and interpretations.

Standard 314. ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING 

(a)  A law school shall utilize both formative and summative assessment methods throughout its curriculum to measure student achievement of course learning outcomes, improve student learning, and provide meaningful feedback to students.

(b)  All courses in the first one-third of the credit hours earned by students in the J.D. program shall include at least one formative assessment.  The formative assessment shall include feedback that allows students to evaluate their performance relative to the learning outcomes in the course.  The law school shall make available academic support for students who fail to attain a satisfactory level of achievement on the formative assessment.

Interpretation 314-1

Formative assessment methods are measurements at different points during a course or at different points over the span of a student’s education that provide meaningful feedback to improve student learning.  Summative assessment methods are measurements at the culmination of a course that measure the degree of student learning in that course.  Summative assessments may also measure the culmination of student learning at any point in the student’s legal education, such as with the post-1L “Baby Bar Exam” given by some law schools.

Interpretation 314-2

The feedback on formative assessments required to allow students to evaluate their performance may include written faculty comments, model answers, or individual or group review sessions.

Interpretation 314-3

Assessment methods are likely to be different from school to school.  Law schools are not required by Standard 314 to use any particular assessment method.