A Study of the Impact of an Integrated Metacognition Instruction Model to Improve Bar Passage

This AccessLex Bar Success Research Grant awarded to Hofstra University funded a study of the effects of an integrated metacognition instruction model on law school graduates’ bar passage rates. The grantee developed a metacognition instruction component for use in a third-year bar preparation class that was intended to foster the acquisition and refinement of students’ metacognitive abilities and capacities.

The study found that students gain metacognitive skills throughout law school (rather than only or primarily during the first semester or first year); this means that, although early instruction continues to have a notable impact on students’ metacognitive capacities, late-stage interventions can still be productive.

More fundamentally, the study’s findings suggest that there is a meaningful association between students’ metacognitive skills and their academic success in law school. Although the study did not find a direct link between metacognition and bar passage, the relationship between bar passage and bar course performance is highly suggestive; the relationship between metacognition and bar passage warrants further study.  

The study’s findings will be published in a scholarly paper that will be available through the AccessLex Resource Collections (ARC).