Weather Notice

For February 21, 2025: In-person classes will resume, but students have permission to attend classes on zoom if unable to attend in person. Students will not be counted absent if attending virtually.

For staff, emergency/essential personnel only.

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ASL’s NextGen Curriculum

ASL became the first law school in the U.S. to announce a full-revised Curriculum designed to meet the requirements of the NextGen Bar Exam. This “NextGen Curriculum” is the product of a nearly two-year self-assessment process by ASL that utilized faculty surveys to understand how the current curriculum incorporates the 27 Foundational Skills tested on the NextGen Bar Exam. Then, ASL developed a revised curriculum that is crafted specifically to address these skills that had not been included in previous bar exams. ASL was able to fully revise and unanimously adopt its NextGen Curriculum to apply to students who entered ASL in Fall, 2024. This NextGen Curriculum will give ASL’s students the tools they need to be fully prepared for the implementation of the NextGen Bar Exam, which rolls out in July 2026. To date, 29 jurisdictions of the U.S. have committed to begin using the NextGen Bar Exam no later than July 2028.

Click here to view a sample Plan of Study utilizing ASL’s NextGen Curriculum.

Click here to view an article discussing ASL’s NextGen Curriculum process.

Curricular Learning Outcomes

Beginning with the 2021 – 2022 academic year, ASL adopted the following Curricular Learning Outcomes for the J.D. program:

  1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural law;
  2. Demonstrate legal analysis, legal reasoning, legal research, problem-solving, and communication skills;
  3. Demonstrate proper professional and ethical responsibilities;
  4. Demonstrate professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession in the Appalachian region and beyond; and
  5. Demonstrate, develop, and embrace a sense of civic responsibility and leadership by working to address community needs and problems.

 

Self-Assessment & Curriculum Mapping

In 2023, ASL began an ongoing self-assessment process for measuring success in achieving the Program’s Learning Outcomes. This resulted in a Curriculum Mapping project analyzing how well each course was addressing the Program’s Learning Outcomes. With the announcement of the planned scope and content of the NextGen Bar Exam, ASL’s self-assessment process was directed toward the Foundational Skills to be tested therein. ASL was able to analyze how well its current required curriculum addressed those Skills. The results of that assessment led to several curricular changes to ASL’s J.D. program.

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