The Empire Strikes Back, Part II: LSAC Stops Certifying Matriculant Admissions Data In Response To Law Schools' Use Of GRE

Following up on my previous posts (links below):  Above the Law, Raising The Stakes In The Fight Over The LSAT:

You may recall Arizona Law has decided to accept the GRE in lieu of the LSAT. They claim it is a move designed to increase diversity, but some see increasing the school’s applicants as another nifty benefit. While most schools aren’t ready to make the move to the GRE just yet, the LSAT’s dominance may be in jeopardy. The first move LSAC made to stem the tide was to threaten to take away Arizona Law’s membership (and the application data that comes with it), but that move was wildly unpopular with law school deans, and LSAC backed off.

Now LSAC has announced another ramification of moving away from the LSAT. In a letter sent to admissions professionals at all law schools yesterday, LSAC announced it intends to stop certifying matriculant admissions data. Amid concerns about the accuracy of law school admissions data, beginning in 2011, LSAC began certifying the accuracy of the data (i.e., average LSAT scores). Now LSAC intends to stop that:

Consistent with LSAC’s mission, the goal of this service is to provide accurate and reliable information about the LSAT/UGPA profile of a law school’s matriculants. Given the current uncertainty about the Section’s position on the use of admission tests other than the LSAT, and the current or potential use by some law schools of admission tests other than the LSAT, we no longer believe that this goal can be met. Moreover, the reporting of LSAT scores to US News without similarly reporting other test scores that may be used by some law schools in the admission process has the potential to disadvantage many of our member schools. Because the US News rankings are so volatile, the nonreporting of selected test scores could provide a significant advantage to certain law schools and would reduce the reliability of the certification of matriculant data.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Is Wake Forest Law School's Offer To Pay Students To Take The GRE A U.S. News Rankings Ploy? (Jan. 30, 2016)
• Christine Hurt (BYU), Could The GRE Replace The LSAT? (Feb. 6, 2016)
• Arizona Is First Law School To Admit Students Based On GRE Instead Of LSAT (Feb. 11, 2016)
• WSJ: Law Schools Replace LSAT With GRE To Goose Enrollment (Feb. 23, 2016)
• The First Two Law Schools to Drop the LSAT Could Be Just the Beginning (Feb. 25, 2016)
• The Empire Strikes Back: LSAC Threatens To Expel University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 1, 2016)
• 148 Deans Demand LSAC Rescind Threat To Expel University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 5, 2016)
• The Antitrust Implications Of LSAC's Threatened Expulsion Of University Of Arizona Over Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 8, 2016)
• LSAC Backs Down (For Now) On Threat To Expel University Of Arizona For Use Of GRE In Law School Admissions (May 9, 2016)
• Poll: Majority Of Law Schools Are Not Racing To Follow Arizona In Replacing LSAT With GRE (June 6, 2016)
• Taylor: The GRE Is No Law School Diversity Tool (June 16, 2016)
• University Of Arizona Is 'Preying On Low-Information Prospective Law Students' (June 21, 2016)