I sometimes think that those who fall behind were left behind.
That might be particularly true in legal education.
Learning well is also about being well, about finding a place within the community of learners to belong, about developing the confidence that one has what it takes to thrive in law school. And there's research to bear this out, especially with respect to bar exam performance.
According to researchers on successful mindset interventions for bar takers:
"As Mindsets in Legal Education (MILE) researchers, we designed, administered, and evaluated the online productive mindset intervention referred to as the California Bar Exam Strategies and Stories Program (the program). In partnership with the State Bar of California (SBC), we streamlined and simplified the enrollment process while improving participation on the July 2018 and July 2019 California bar exams.
-
Proven Effectiveness: Working closely with the SBC, we conducted a preliminary analysis of the program in January 2020. The results suggest that the program increases the likelihood of passing the bar exam, after controlling for LSAT and GPA, by between 6.8 to 9.6 percent, depending on the analysis conducted.
-
Boost for First-Generation and Underrepresented Minority Students: The program particularly helped applicants who were first-gen college students and underrepresented minorities, according to our analyses.
-
Reductions in Psychological Friction: Our analyses suggest that the productive mindset intervention succeeded by reducing psychological friction. Among applicants studying for the exam, it fostered stress-is-enhancing and growth mindsets that helped them succeed in the face of stress, anxiety, and mistakes."
–" "Evaluating Productive Mindset Interventions that Promote Excellence once on California's Bar Exam"
Too often, I think that the law school experience is filled with needless "psychological friction." That was certainly true of my law school experience.
As one turning forty in law school, I spent most of my time alone, worried about how to keep up, worried about being called on in classes, worried about being shown up to be an imposer, utterly unsuitable for the practice of law. Because of that experience, which still bites into my heart, I find myself often wondering what my students are facing, especially in the midst of this on-going pandemic.
Rather than wondering, perhaps I should ask? Perhaps I should listen more? Perhaps I should…
It's really up to us to help our students not fall behind by being left behind. That's a tremendous challenge…and responsibility…for us as legal educators. (Scott Johns).
