Top of Page
Skip main navigation

Learning Outcomes

The Master of Science in Law Program has seven expected learning outcomes for students in each program. Each outcome has multiple enumerated sub-skills. A successful recipient of the Master of Science in Education Law degree is expected to:

1. Demonstrate a solid grounding in the basics of education law.

  • Use legal terminology appropriately.
  • Apply knowledge of the structure of the legal system to understand the validity of various types of legal pronouncements, rulings and regulations.
  • Identify various types of legal issues when encountering them in the workplace.
  • Identify the steps of the litigation process.
  • Identify the basic attributes of the court system and of common-law development.

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the legal aspects of the structure, history and values underlying educational systems in the U.S.

  • Trace the development of state responsibility to provide a free and appropriate public education to all students.
  • Trace the development of student rights in education law.
  • Trace the development of specialized education programs to meet the needs of disabled students

3. Identify situations that frequently present legal issues affecting students, teachers and school administrators.

  • Apply basic legal principles to facts seen in the workplace.
  • Evaluate the likelihood of legal implications resulting from those facts.
  • Understand the administrative process and the role it plays in resolving disputes that frequently arise in educational settings.

4. Research the broad outlines of the legal question at hand.

  • Locate federal and state statutes in legal texts and online.
  • Locate federal and state regulations in legal texts and online.
  • Locate case law in legal texts and online.
  • Locate legal secondary sources in hard copy and online.

5. Recognize when a legal issue requires the involvement of a lawyer.

  • Analyze the way a lawyer will approach a legal issue.
  • Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of legal arguments regarding the issue at hand.

6. Discuss legal matters intelligently with a lawyer when called upon to do so in their professional lives.

  • Apply knowledge of the relevant statutes, regulations and case law to situations arising in the workplace.
  • Display familiarity with and understanding of a legal vocabulary by communicating with lawyers by properly using their vocabulary.
  • Understand and follow the lawyers' reasoning process as presented orally or through memoranda.
  • Understand and follow the lawyers' use of various legal practice skills.

7. Communicate conclusions clearly and logically.

  • Write a logically constructed, clearly worded, properly supported paper proposing a practical solution to a legal issue in the workplace.
  • Deliver to an audience with diverse backgrounds, including lawyers, a professional oral report clearly communicating factual predicate, analysis and conclusions regarding a legal issue.
Return to top of page