| Abstract: | Studied 3-yr trends in the law averages awarded to nonminority students and to 2 principal minority groups—Black students and Chicano students—in 2 sets of law schools that enrolled more than 900 Black students and more than 300 Chicano students. In 18 of 21 law schools, Black students showed greater improvement than White students when 3rd-yr grades were compared with 1st-yr grades. In 10 of 21 schools the improvement of Black students was significantly greater, statistically, than that of White students. Chicano students, who generally showed less prior educational disadvantage than Black students, exhibited differential improvement in 6 of 9 schools, but a statistically significant improvement in only 1 school. Various reasons for the differential improvements in grades are considered, including statistical artifacts (ceiling and floor effects, changes in criterion reliability, and unequal units of measurement in the grading of minority and nonminority students) and substantive factors such as course selection patterns, differences in the academic demands of each law school year, and support systems available to disadvantaged students. The implications of the findings are discussed for counseling students, for academic dismissal and probation policies, and for the study of effective institutional support services. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
