Letter from the Chair

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Spring 2026 (Vol. 95, No. 1), pp. 1–3.By Darin B. Scheer

The Promise of Portability: Ensuring Seamless Score Transfers Through the NextGen Transition

Greetings, friends and colleagues in the bar admissions community. With the NextGen UBE on the horizon, and as jurisdictions transition from the legacy UBE to the new exam, I’ve been reflecting on one of the most consequential contributions NCBE has made to the modern legal profession: score portability. Portability is not merely an administrative convenience; it provides significant benefits to jurisdictions and candidates alike. It is also not easy to implement, requiring a shared validity framework to ensure that a score earned in one jurisdiction carries the same meaning in another.

Before the UBE, many jurisdictions already utilized the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE) as part of their bar exam, and numerous others also used the Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and Multistate Performance Test (MPT). But there existed no unified structure intentionally designed to support score comparability across jurisdictions. Approaches varied in how jurisdictions combined multistate and jurisdiction-specific components, how constructed-response questions were developed and graded, and how scores were scaled and reported. Individual examinations were developed and administered with care, of course, but the overall system was not built to produce a single transferable score supported by a shared evidentiary foundation.

Without that common framework, competence demonstrated in one jurisdiction did not readily translate into lawyer mobility. Candidates seeking admission in multiple jurisdictions often faced duplicative testing or different examinations altogether. The additional fees, months of preparation, and delay in entering or expanding practice created tangible burdens. For younger candidates and lawyers in particular—many carrying significant student debt loads and still determining where their careers would take them—the lack of portability could impose substantial financial and professional strain at a formative stage in their professional journey.

The UBE: Designing Portability into the System

The UBE addressed this structural challenge by integrating the MBE, MEE, and MPT into a standardized model designed to support score comparability across jurisdictions. Uniform exam composition, centralized scaling, coordinated score reporting, and a common scoring model created the psychometric foundation necessary for jurisdictions to rely on one another’s exam results with confidence. Portability became possible not simply because elements were shared, but because the system was built to support defensible, comparable inferences across jurisdiction borders.

Operationally, the NextGen UBE preserves the hybrid governance model that underlies portability.… This model maintains the cross­jurisdictional standardization necessary for portability while preserving jurisdictional authority over grading and admission decisions.

That design decision fundamentally changed the legal licensure landscape. Candidates could earn a single UBE score and seek admission in multiple jurisdictions without retaking the bar exam, subject to each jurisdiction’s passing standard and admission requirements. Since the inception of the UBE, 42 jurisdictions (Wisconsin recently adopted and will hold its first legacy UBE administration in July 2026) have joined its policy compact, and more than 80,000 portable scores have been transferred—strong evidence that portability is working as intended.

The resulting impact has been seismic. Candidates have avoided duplicative testing and the associated costs and delays. Jurisdictions have gained access to a broader pool of qualified applicants. At the same time, the UBE has preserved local authority. Each jurisdiction establishes its own passing standard, defines its own admission requirements, and determines how long it will accept transferred scores. That balance—shared assessment infrastructure paired with jurisdictional autonomy—has been central to the UBE’s success.

Portability Through the NextGen Transition

The transition to the NextGen UBE naturally raises an important question: Will portability remain?

From the outset, preserving portability has been a core design principle of the NextGen UBE; the structural elements that make portability possible have been preserved. Jurisdictions will continue to establish their own passing scores and determine how long they will accept transferred scores. NCBE will perform centralized scaling and equating and serve as the national score repository facilitating transfers across jurisdictions. NCBE is working closely with jurisdictions to encourage timely policy decisions that ensure consistent, fair treatment of both legacy and NextGen scores and to avoid gaps in portability coverage. Candidates who earned legacy UBE scores should not see those scores diminished in utility simply because a new exam is being introduced. Likewise, early NextGen UBE adopters should not face uncertainty about portability during phased implementation.

Ultimately, a successful portability system depends on shared confidence in the agreed-upon meaning of an exam score. For the NextGen UBE, scores will be equated so that an official score carries the same meaning regardless of where or when it is earned. Equally important is the relationship between legacy UBE scores and NextGen UBE scores. NCBE’s psychometric team, working with external partners, has conducted extensive concordance analyses directly linking performance on the two examinations. The recommended NextGen UBE passing score range of 610–620 corresponds to the legacy UBE passing score range of 260–270, providing jurisdictions with an evidence-based bridge between the two scales. Standard-setting studies and outcome modeling further inform these recommendations and provide jurisdictions with data-driven guidance as they adopt the NextGen UBE and make policy decisions.1

The phased rollout has also been structured to support this continuity. The first jurisdictions will administer the NextGen UBE beginning in July 2026, with additional jurisdictions following through July 2028. This approach gives jurisdictions time to prepare graders, update administrative processes, and coordinate portability policies while maintaining score integrity throughout the transition.

Operationally, the NextGen UBE preserves the hybrid governance model that underlies portability. NCBE performs final scaling and equating and maintains the national score repository. Jurisdictions exercise their autonomy by appointing graders who evaluate written responses using detailed, uniform rubrics that NCBE provides, with discrepancy resolution and quality, real-time monitoring. This model maintains the cross-­jurisdictional standardization necessary for portability while preserving jurisdictional authority over grading and admission decisions. The transition to the NextGen UBE is therefore a continuation of portability—grounded in the same validity structure and strengthened by a new exam that reflects the doctrinal knowledge and skills needed for modern legal practice.

Portability in bar admissions is based on a simple but powerful premise: demonstrated competence, once established, should carry meaning beyond a single jurisdiction’s borders. For candidates, that premise matters. It means that the time, effort, and expense invested in preparing for the bar exam need not be repeated simply because professional opportunities arise or personal circumstances change. It means that early career lawyers can pursue mobility without redemonstrating competence already shown. And it means that jurisdictions can rely on one another’s standards while maintaining their own authority.

As the profession transitions to the NextGen UBE, NCBE’s commitment to portability endures. Although the bar exam has evolved, its underlying validity framework remains intact. NCBE is fulfilling its purpose by providing stakeholders with a reliable exam and dependable psychometric support in service of our common mission: protecting the public by ensuring that demonstrated competence has consistent meaning wherever one takes the exam. 

Kindest regards,

Darin B. Scheer

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