Grantee Research
Examining the Relationship Between Law School Rank and Student Engagement
Document Type
Issue/Research Brief/Blog
Publication Date
4-2020
Keywords
law school rankings, student engagement
Abstract
Law school rankings such as U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Law Schools” dominate the conversation on quality in legal education. Potential law students frequently cite using rankings in their law school search process. In addition, rankings have been shown to influence the behavior and culture of law schools. Despite their popularity, the criteria used to rank schools often has little to do with the quality of the educational experience. If rankings are intended to demonstrate some level of collegiate quality, then these measures should be related with other measures of collegiate quality, such as student engagement. The current study investigated the relationship between law school rankings and student engagement using data from the Law School Survey of Student Engagement. Findings reveal no relationship between ranking and engagement, except for a modest, positive relationship between ranking and satisfaction.
Comments
Published in Research in Higher Education as "Measuring Quality in Legal Education: Examining the Relationship Between Law School Rank and Student Engagement"