The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Empirical Findings: A Report of the Statistical Analysis of the February 2010 TMSL Texas Bar Results

The following report gives the statistical findings of the 2010 Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) Texas Bar results. This data was pre-existing and was given to the Evaluator by email from the Dean. Then, in-depth statistical analyses were run using the SPSS 17 to address the following questions: 1. What are the statistical descriptors of the February 2010 TMSL Bar students? 2. What is the relationship of the subcategories, Times Taken the Bar, and Final Bar Score in the February 2010 TMSL Bar test takers? 3. What subcategory served as the best Predictor of the February 2010 TMSL Bar test taking students to their Final Bar Score? After the analyses, a findings and summary section is written at the end of this report/study addressing each of the research questions. Theoretically, the Texas Bar Examination's educational components could be found by further evaluating the learning objectives that were tested upon in the subcategories. If the goal is to address curricula initiatives that affect the Texas Bar Exam, then further study of those objectives should be done. This high stakes test is very well designed and could serve as a baseline for further TMSL educational studies. The high effect size yields statistically significant results with a very low N. Therefore, it is suggested that learning initiatives based on objectives be measured (summative) by analyzing changes in those subcategories of the Texas Bar.