College of Nursing Assessment Project

Project Staff
Dr. Luvenia Cowart, Assistant Dean
Dr. Bobbie Perdue, Associate Director

The Goals of this assessment project are to:

  1. Identify factors which students perceive place them at risk for attrition in the College of Nursing;
  2. Use the findings of this assessment to develop an action plan which reduces barriers to success and enhances academic improvement of students in the College.

Background Information

Risk factors among nursing majors have been cited in the literature and include such issues as:

  1. inflexible nursing curricula;
  2. lack of a clear policy for course repetition;
  3. unreasonable course load mandates;
  4. prerequisite, co-requisite policies;
  5. difficulty in completing the foundation science courses;
  6. culturally irrelevant curriculum;
  7. fear of clinical responsibility and accountability;
  8. lack of differentiation by faculty of student responsible behavior and professional accountable behavior;
  9. correlations between HS GPA, SAT scores, science grades and NCLEX success (see Appendix A).

Within the College of Nursing, a number of interventions have been undertaken to address student failure on the NCLEX licensing examination. There has, however, been no systematic process undertaken to gain students' perceptions-about the factors which inhibit their successful progression in the curriculum and their successful performance on the NCLEX examination. The student leadership retreat which is held each semester has been used to elicit student concerns and to involve them in possible resolutions. Many students expressed in this forum that the problems they perceive are the outgrowth of flaws in curriculum, academic progress rules, course management, the philosophy of the faculty and changes within the nursing profession. Despite the significance that student culture plays in many aspects of college life, no systematic attempt has been made to obtain from students their views of risk factors which impede their success in the College. Kuh (1990) however, reminds us that in the process of coping with the challenges encountered during college, students develop their own view of the relative importance of matters such as academic performance, hurdles to overcome if one is to be successful in the major and extra curricular activities which enhance academic performance and career planning.

The College seeks to conduct an assessment of the risk factors which impede success of the student as perceived by the student. The results of such assessment will be used to inform the student services being developed within the College, curriculum change and the action plan for diversity.

Methodology

The College will interview at least 8 students in the first year class, 8 second degree students, 8 transfer students, 8 RN students and 8 seniors and ask the student to assess these five risks:

  1. At risk student (defined in Appendix B)
  2. At risk course (defined in Appendix B)
  3. At risk curriculum (defined in Appendix B)
  4. At risk clinical
  5. At risk student life activity

One student from each group will be a student who has experienced some type of academic failure. The students will be expected to give a description of the at risk process, focusing on attributes which create the risk. They will also be asked to supply examples of each.

Following the completion of the interview process, the authors will develop a questionnaire and mail to each undergraduate student, asking them to complete and return it in a period of 4 weeks. The returned questionnaires will be analyzed to determine the College of Nursing students' perception of risk factors which impede academic success.

Information obtained through this assessment process will be shared with all faculty. A task force on implementing changes based on the findings of the assessment project will be created and will consist of representation from the academic progress committee, student life committee, curriculum committee, faculty evaluation committee, and the assessment task force members This task force would identify areas where enhancement for success could be made and would forward recommendations for change to the academic progress committee, curriculum committee, student life, team coordinators, and course coordinators.

Timeline

The 40 student interviews will take place during the months of February and March. The Questionnaire will be developed during March and April and disseminated by April 15th. The data obtained from the Questionnaires will be analyzed during the month of June. The report to the Assessment Task Force will take place in August. 1996- 97 will be the year in which implementation of recommendations from the assessment reports will be expected.

Budget

The $2,500.00 allocation will be used to purchase paper products for the questionnaires, to buy snacks for the interviews, to type, and distribute the questionnaires and to analyze the data generated by the questionnaires. CID will be consulted regarding data analysis.

 

Appendix A

High Risk Courses

High risk courses Characterized by Student Outcome

Application of theory to life situations

Application of prior learning to current concepts presented.

Large numbers of failures in proportion to numbers of students who are successful.

In general failure is viewed as an inherited problem in the students not the course per se.

Increased attrition due to low test scores that are not likely to be curved.

Increased attrition due to lack of recall or inability to transfer knowledge.

Increased attrition due to mismatch between student and faculty about cause of failure, remedy to create success.

High Risk Curriculum

Characterized by Student Outcome
1 ) Little room for flexibility in # of hours taken per semester. Failure rate in courses since # of hours allocated maybe too strenuous for some students who need slower pace.
2) Large #'s of prerequisites and co-requisites. Decreased progression rate of students since students can not register for courses for which he/she has not met prerequisite.
3) Lack of clear policy on course repetition. Increased failure rate in other courses since repeated courses often added on to next semester's curriculum plan without taking into account learning needs and patterns of students.
4) Lack of alternate patterns of progression from point A to point Z Increased attrition due to inappropriate course load.

 

Examples:

4 year plan - 8 semesters
4 year plan - 8 semesters & 2 summers
4 year plan - 8 semesters & 4 summers
5 year plan - 10 semesters
5 year plan - 10 semesters & 2 summers

High Risk Student

Characterized by Student Outcome
Poor reading skills. Increased attrition if can't cover and assimilate assigned readings.
Under preparedness Increased attrition.
Poor study habits Increased attrition due to lack of ongoing time management and organization.
Poor time management. Increased attrition due to failure to complete assignments.
Poor test taking. Increased attrition due to lack of test skills and processing of information.
Poor attendance in class. Increased attrition due to lack of participation.
Poor note taking Increased attrition due to lack of organization. Inability to build scheme.
Membership in ethnic group Increased attrition due to misinterpretation, isolation, and labeling.
Male members in the student body Increased attrition due to misinterpretation, isolation, and labeling.
 

Appendix B

Working definitions of terms

At risk student

Refers to student who by virtue of attributes, academic record or profile, behavioral problem, or social inadequacy is likely to be in jeopardy of academic failure unless structural supportive intervention is provided.

At risk course

Refers to a course in which there is a high student failure rate on a consistent basis. Usually Science or Math related. In nursing high risk courses include: NUR 211, 213, 215, 216, 312 and 314. High risk Foundational courses for nursing include: BIO 216, 217, 121, 123 and MAT 221 and PHI 191.

At risk curriculum

A curriculum which is rigid in determining the sequencing of courses allowing little leeway in figuring out ways that students who are off track might progress; there is also little room for variation in the numbers of credits to be taken per semester and so forth.

 


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