Seeking congruence between scores achieved on standardized examinations and NCLEX-RN pass rates.
NCLEX-RN pass rates were below the acceptable standard for Arizona and the program was under discipline.
Rigor was increased on faculty written examinations and in the classroom. Faculty were taught the basics of psychometrics and testing guidelines to provide valid and reliable examinations. Students were encouraged to take ownership of their education and use these examinations as a means to build confidence and assurance prior to the NCLEX. A cooperative culture of learning and achieving excellence has been introduced into the program.
In 2014, the average HESI score was 869, and the NCLEX pass rate was 77.5. In 2015, the average HESI score was 785, with the NCLEX pass rate of 73.33. There is a direct correlation between HESI scores and NCLEX pass rates. As average HESI scores climbed to 876 and 921 in 2018, the NCLEX pass rates climbed to 97.62. This includes the cohort that completed in May 2018 with a 100% pass rate. See attachment.
| Attachment | Size |
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 hesi-compared-nclex.xlsx | 8.5 KB |
Comments
Thank you for taking time to submit this CATS. I know the nursing faculty work hard to make sure students are successful. It is definitely easy to become complacent; we need to continually learn ourselves. Thank you!
Becky,
Thank you for your continued support in submitting a CATS. We have an enormous amount of data captured in our Systematic Evaluation Plan (SEP) that is available for analysis and future submissions. We appreciate your leadership with SAAC!
Hi Roni,
Thank you for sharing! I am a firm believer that no rises to low expectations.
Catherine
Catherine, you are absolutely correct! When you set the bar high, and provide the resources for students to achieve that level, they not only meet it, they exceed! And we want nurses caring for us and our loved ones who exceed!
I know you and nursing did an amazing job in increasing the pass of the NCLEX RN exam. It is interesting how training in psychometrics and testing guidelines resulted in such great success! My question, was there a learning objective on the NCLEX exam that students showed the most improvement? Keep up the great work!!!
Rene, thank you for asking the question. Because the NCLEX is a secured exam, our summary comes through a third party and aggregates much of the individual questions. The area with the greatest improvement was physiological adaptation. I am excited about continuing to track our progress! We will not strive for a higher percentage pass rate because I know that is a statistical anomaly!
!
Roni - Thank you for sharing your success with us through CATS. I love to see when demonstrating high expectations and cooperation show success.
Teri, you are welcome. Evaluation is often an overlooked and undervalued component of programs, but really can be built into the normal operating procedure and it provides VALUABLE information, and evidence on which to base future decisions.
Thanks for this opportunity to share!