President's Page

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Summer 2024 (Vol. 93, No. 2), pp. 3–5.By Judith A. Gundersen

A Busy NCBE Summer!

Just as this issue was going to press, NCBE invited all July 2024 bar examinees to apply to participate in the NextGen prototype test being held in October 2024. We aim to have about 1,900 people sit for the prototype exam, which would enable us to perform a national standard-setting exercise next spring and help Boards and Supreme Courts make important decisions regarding the new exam’s passing score.

We frequently get asked many NextGen-related questions: How do we know this exam will be a valid, reliable, and fair test of entry-level lawyer knowledge and skills competency? Will it be too hard? Will it be too easy? Will it narrow or magnify achievement gaps we currently see among examinees? What do pilot and field testers think of the questions and the test’s digital format?

We don’t leave the answers to these all-important questions to chance. Through our research testing phases, we are amassing nearly 9,000 examinees’ performance data and feedback on NextGen questions to analyze.

Our research summary on pilot testing appears in this issue. My deep thanks go to our research team for analyzing the data. A report on the January field test is coming later this year.

Takeaways from our testing thus far are that the items perform as predicted; they are of appropriate difficulty, and the time allotted to answer is appropriate. Provision of complete resources (the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE), for example) did not improve candidate performance; most who used the FRE consulted them to check their answers, not to find the answer in the first place. Preliminary research from the pilot test tells us that while the performance difference we have observed on questions remains, it is trending in the right direction—smaller. We compared average scores by question format and demographic group and used standardized mean differences to evaluate the magnitude of the effect of these variables on performance. In our research we found that the differences in performance based on demographic variables would be considered small to medium effects. (See the Testing Column in this issue.) We look forward to continuing our research and to releasing our research results as testing progresses. Consistent with the analyses conducted following the first phase of research (pilot testing), NCBE will continue to assess item type performance and the interplay of question types and performance factors (e.g., timing, scoring, demographics) in subsequent research phases. The research supports NCBE’s accumulation of evidence supporting the interpretation of test results.

On the Family Law content scope front, we have recently closed the public comment period after five weeks. As this issue is going to print, our Implementation Steering Committee is reviewing the comments and finalizing the content to be added to the NextGen bar exam as foundational concepts and principles starting in July 2028. Drafting will begin shortly. I’d like to thank the Content Scope Committee members for working with Beth Donahue, NCBE Director of Strategic Business Initiatives, to create the Family Law content outline:

Naomi Cahn, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law, Co-Director, Family Law Center, University of Virginia School of Law;
Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean, Boston University School of Law;
Anna McKim, Shareholder and Board-Certified Family Law Specialist, Field Manning Stone Hawthorne & Aycock (Lubbock, TX);
Robyn Powell, Associate Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma Law; and
June Carbone, Robina Chair in Law, Science and Technology, University of Minnesota School of Law.

We are grateful to these esteemed academics and practitioners for giving their time and talents to this project that protects the public—the reason for all high-stakes licensure exams and the responsibility of each jurisdiction’s highest court. A heartfelt thank you to all drafters and reviewers working on the NextGen exam, the current bar exam, and the MPRE. Your time and talents are very much appreciated. Your work is at the core of our mission.

Outreach efforts to jurisdictions and law schools may not be as numerous over the summer as during the school year, but I did appear on a panel at the ABA Deans Workshop on July 19 at Seattle University Law School. My thanks to Dean Anthony Varona and the program committee, the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, and their new managing director, Jenn Rosato Perea. It was a good opportunity to answer questions and to provide information about the phases of the NextGen research plan and findings, jurisdiction adoptions, study aids, and upcoming milestones.

Our Character and Fitness Committee continues to work on evaluating the NCBE Character and Fitness Application. This multiyear project began under the leadership of Suzanne Richards, a former chair of our Board of Trustees from Ohio, and Hon. Phyllis Thompson of the DC Court of Appeals. Our goal is to ensure collected applicant information is necessary and relevant to assessing character for the purpose of bar admission while promoting a fair and equitable process.

Inquiries have been sent out to over 50 jurisdictions soliciting their input. Two final surveys will be released this fall. Responses are being synthesized and will be used to further revise and refine the language of application questions. We expect the project to wrap up in 2025.

As another busy summer winds down, it’s time to thank our outgoing Board chair, John McAlary, Executive Director of the New York State Board of Law Examiners. I’ve known John for 24 years; we started in bar admissions at around the same time (before he had gray hair and before I became a grandmother). He has long been a leader among admissions professionals, having served as chair of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA) in 2011. John was appointed to the NCBE Board in 2016 and has been a consistently strong, experienced voice, providing invaluable insight. As the leader of the jurisdiction with the largest annual testing pool—nearly 14,500 candidates in 2024—he knows just about all there is to know about the complexities of administering a bar exam, managing accommodations, and supporting candidates. John is a trusted colleague for whom I have great respect and affection. He will continue to serve as immediate past chair for the upcoming Board year.

Taking John’s place as chair is Darin Scheer of Wyoming. As I write this, Darin is on a river-rafting trip—a typical excursion for him on the rare opportunity he can take a vacation as a busy practitioner. I look forward to working closely with Darin in the year ahead to achieve his initiatives for NCBE.

A big thank you as well to Christine Kenefick, who is outgoing CBAA chair. Christine is Deputy Executive Director of the New York State Board of Law Examiners—we’ve been in a New York state of mind this past year! All of us at NCBE thank Christine for her leadership. Like John, when you run the nation’s largest bar exam testing program, you know a thing or two about admitting lawyers. As Christine’s year closes, Sherry Hieber’s term begins as CBAA chair. Sherry is General Counsel for the New Hampshire Supreme Court Office of Bar Admissions. She is also an experienced administrator who took on a true leadership role for jurisdictions during the pandemic. We are excited about working closely with Sherry in the following year.

Judge Shellie Park-Hoapili of Hawaii joins our Board of Trustees as Tim Wong of Minnesota steps down (but is still heavily involved in serving on NCBE committees). We are thrilled to welcome Judge Park-Hoapili to our Board. She is vice chair of the Hawaii Board of Bar Examiners and a longtime MEE/MPT grader who has made many trips to NCBE headquarters in Madison for grader training. Welcome, Judge Park-Hoapili!

I wish all July bar exam applicants and August MPRE examinees the best of luck as they await their exam results.

Until the next issue,

Signature of Judy Gundersen