Mission Statement and Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are the lawyering skills that students are expected to obtain through the completion of a legal education.  Consistent with ABA Standards, upon completion of a J.D. degree, graduates of FIU Law will demonstrate mastery of the following student learning outcomes at the level needed for admission to the bar and effective and ethical participation in the legal profession as entry-level attorneys. 

The curriculum at FIU Law has been designed to prepare students with the key skills and competencies needed to demonstrate these learning outcomes within the legal profession. 

Our learning outcomes reflect considerable thought, time, and attention by the faculty of FIU Law.  They include seven outcomes, which may be summarized as: (1) knowledge of the law; (2) legal analysis, reasoning, and problem-solving; (3) legal research and writing; (4) communication; (5) interpersonal skills, professional responsibility and ethics; (6) commitment to public service; and, (7) engagement with the local and global legal communities.  These reflect the domains within which students should demonstrate competency by the conferral of their degree.  The performance indicators (competencies) track each of the learning outcomes and provide specific evidence that a student will have satisfied the outcomes. 

While satisfying the ABA’s minimal competencies, these learning outcomes also go a step further and reflect our particular goals as a law school.  They incorporate the unique mission of the University and the law school in several respects.  Learning Outcome # 6, for example, looks beyond the rules of professional conduct and asks whether students understand the importance of providing legal services to the underserved and of fulfilling responsibilities to the profession as a whole.  A commitment to the global legal community and to cultural literacy – important values at FIU and at the law school – is reflected in Learning Outcomes ##5 and 7.  As a law school set in South Florida, we aim to produce graduates who have the skills required for successful participation in a global legal profession with a solid foundation in international and comparative law.  Thus, we emphasize communication (#3) and interpersonal skills (#4), including self-awareness, counseling, and concern for the environment (##5, 6, and 7). 

On September 22, 2016, the faculty adopted an assessment plan for 2016-2023.  The purposes of the plan are: 

1. To strengthen this law school’s academic programs of legal education by gathering data about student learning in relation to a set of pre-identified Student Learning Outcomes (SLO), analyzing the data to determine whether students are achieving the identified learning outcomes, preparing a report with the results and recommendations, and adopting changes where necessary to respond to identified problem areas and to improve the overall quality of the programs. 

1. To articulate an effective, workable, faculty-driven, and efficient process to assess student learning outcomes at an institutional level over a seven year period (the ABA’s sabbatical site visit schedule). 

1. To identify the roles of faculty and relevant administrators in conducting institutional assessment. 

1. To demonstrate compliance with the ABA’s requirement that, by the 2017-2018 academic year, every accredited Law School has a publicly available assessment plan. 

1. To ensure that the students acquire the requisite knowledge, skills and values expressed in the law school’s Mission Statement, which our institution deems important for the legal profession and the practice of law. 

1. To demonstrate compliance with the SACSCOC (university accrediting body). 

As explained further in the assessment plan document, during each annual cycle, one learning outcome will be assessed using a combination of direct and indirect measures.  An ad hoc assessment team will gather and analyze data and propose recommendations to the Assessment Committee[1], which is responsible for coordinating all of our assessment efforts. 

The faculty adopted the following timetable for assessment. 

[1] The Assessment Committee inherits the work of the Ad Hoc Assessment Task Force, formed for the “development” phase of the law school’s assessment plan.  The Assessment Committee may overlap with the Curriculum Committee.  Assessment “teams,” made up of two or three faculty members, form a plan, collect data, and report the data to the Assessment Committee for analysis.  See “Assessment Plan,” attached. 

in the fall 2016, the faculty mapped individual courses to the learning outcomes using a survey distributed by the Dean’s Office.  As new courses are adopted, this curriculum map will be updated.  The curriculum map will be used by the Assessment Committee to improve the curriculum where necessary and to conduct assessment activities. 

• Curriculum Map 1 (Summary). If a learning outcome is addressed in a particular course, an “X” appears. 
• Curriculum Map 2 (With Level of Competency). Faculty members were asked to identify the level of competency for each desired learning outcome. 

• “Introductory” means key ideas, concepts, or skills related to the learning outcome are introduced, but it is expected that they will be developed later in a student’s course of study. 
• “Competent” means students must demonstrate proficiency in the learning outcome by the end of the course. 
• “Advanced” means students have advanced instruction in and/or additional practice with the knowledge, value, or skill, such that they demonstrate the learning outcome with a high level of independence and a level of understanding and sophistication expected of graduates, not students. It is doubtful that a student will achieve this level of mastery of a subject or skill in a first year course. 
• Curriculum Map 3 (with Assessment Instruments) 

Note that for courses with multiple sections, data was averaged.  Individual coverage and course goals will vary from instructor to instructor.