Professor Titichia Mitchell Jackson selected for Education Law Association’s Education Law Scholars Early Career Fellowship

CARLISLE, PA — Professor Titichia Mitchell Jackson has been selected for the 2026 Education Law Association’s Education Law Scholars Early Career Fellowship, a competitive program that supports emerging scholars in the field of education law.

As part of the fellowship, Jackson will participate in programming during the Education Law Association’s annual conference, to be held October 21–24, 2026, in Cary, North Carolina. She will also present her work-in-progress article, “The Competency Crisis: Disrupting Traditional Accreditation Models to Promote Practice Readiness,” which examines reform of the American Bar Association’s accreditation model to expand institutional policies related to bar passage compliance and better support professional readiness among attorneys entering the profession.

In the article, Jackson argues that the current ABA accreditation framework places too much emphasis on educational inputs and bar passage outcomes while failing to directly assess whether law graduates have developed the competencies necessary for effective legal practice. Her scholarship identifies a growing disconnect between accreditation compliance and the practical knowledge, skills, and professional judgment needed for competent client representation.

To address that gap, Jackson proposes a competency-based accreditation model that would align institutional compliance more closely with demonstrated student learning outcomes and professional competencies. Her work calls for a reexamination of the ABA standards governing curriculum, learning outcomes, and bar passage and urges a more meaningful framework for measuring practice readiness beyond traditional bar passage metrics.

The fellowship includes an opportunity for Jackson to receive feedback on her work from a senior scholar in the field and to build long-term scholarly connections within the education law community. Her selection reflects both the strength of her developing scholarship and her growing engagement in national conversations about legal education, attorney competency, and professional preparation.

Jackson’s participation in the fellowship highlights Penn State Dickinson Law’s continued commitment to faculty scholarship, innovation in legal education, and meaningful engagement with issues affecting the future of the legal profession.

Professor Titichia Mitchell Jackson brings both legal practice experience and the practice of applying cognitive psychology in the classroom to her teaching. She collaborates with faculty to incorporate the learning concept of spaced repetition throughout Penn State Dickinson Law’s curriculum while training law students for the rigors of law school, the bar exam, and the practice of law. Professor Jackson teaches the Fundamental Skills for the Bar Exam course and Penn State Dickinson Law’s summer supplemental bar preparation program. Professor Jackson provides individual academic success counseling to students. Prior to joining Penn State Dickinson Law, Professor Jackson taught courses and served as the director of bar preparation and support for North Carolina Central University School of Law and served as director of legal education for BARBRI, Inc.