Academic

I am particularly excited about two changes that we will be implementing for the incoming Law School class.

First, we are in the process of rebranding the Law School's academic support program. As part of the rebranding, we changed the name of the program to "Academic Success." The Law School's Academic Success Program is a resource for all law students. It is dedicated to helping every law student achieve his or her full academic potential. We hope that all students will appreciate the benefits of the Academic Success Program, and that the caliber of the program will attract future top-quality students.

The second (and more significant) change is the creation of a Structured Study Group (SSG) program for first-year students. The design for this new program is based on numerous studies throughout all levels of education addressing the learning benefits of cooperative learning groups. The SSG program will be an inclusive, non-remedial program of academic success that integrates study skills instruction into the context of one targeted first-semester subject — Contracts I.

To develop skill mastery, the SSG program will utilize cooperative learning techniques that incorporate hypotheticals and problems that will aid students in developing law school study and analytical skills that the students can use with success throughout their legal education, in studying for the bar, and in law practice. Approximately ten upper division students will be selected to become Academic Fellows. The primary responsibility of the Academic Fellows will be to facilitate the structured study groups. Each study group will consist of 10 to 16 students. The groups will meet once per week for one hour. There will be approximately nine sessions during the fall semester.

The goals of the SSG program will be to:

• maximize the academic performance of all students;
• assist students in developing law school study skills so they will perform to their potential;
• help students develop the attitudes (commitment, perseverance, self-confidence) they need to succeed in law school; and
• provide students with social support and reduce student isolation.

In order to achieve these goals, the Academic Fellows facilitating the study groups will focus on law school learning skills, including outlining, synthesis, issue spotting, creating hypotheticals, memorization, and writing answers to practice exam questions. The focus of the SSGs will be developing students' law school-specific writing and thinking skills.