Need your help - trying to change school policy

Honestly....I think the standards should not be lowered. This is nursing we are talking about....would you want a Nurse assisting you that had trouble getting their degree? How about lowering the pass/fail requirements for doctors? Think that would also be a good idea?

Nope....I gotta disagree with you on this one. A potential Nurse should know his/her stuff and if she/he can't make the grades then perhaps nursing just isn't the right field for them.

I don't think that you as students will have much luck lowering the standards, but I think you might make head way in getting assistance with tudoring.

ADN program in Massachusetts. You need a 73 to pass and as a student, I think that is way too low. I know the 'C' students and I wouldn't want to be lying in a hospital bed and see them walk in as my primary nurse... I hope that doesn't sound too cruel

This all drives me crazy! I graduated from a private 2 yr LPN with a bridge to RN if you chose to go on. I did and while the LPN program was great, the RN part was absolutely horrid. I hardly learned a thing and most of the instructors were awful and inadequate to teach the assigned material. There was so much turnover. I got through it because I had wonderful instructors in my LPN year. So many students failed out, due a multitude of reasons, some being out of their control and getting no help from administration. I feel so strongly that these schools need to increase the requirements for being accepted into the program... be it higher NET scores or whatever else the criteria is. So many people get accepted because they have the ability to get the financial aid to fund their education, but they really cannot handle the material. The "weeding out" should begin with the entry exams, not in the 3rd or last quarter of the program. These schools are brutal!

Western Technical College in WI requires a 78% average on all exams. Any other assignments in the course will not matter if you do not maintain this average on the exams. You would be required to retake the course (which they will let you do only twice during the program). You must pass all generals with a C, which is 78%. They have a 95% pass rate on first time NCLEX.
Good luck with your plight!

What you're doing is GREAT!! I am in a BSN program in South Carolina. In 4 semesters our class size has gone from 45 to 23, so I feel your pain. Any grade below 80% is failing, they don't round up (a 79.99 is FAILING) and two failing grades gets you kicked out of the program! ...and we wonder why the shortage...

I apologize if you do not want to hear from a faculty member on this issue, but I personally appreciate the opportunity listen and dialogue with students regarding what I can do as a teacher to become better, so here is my take.

I have worked in nursing education for the past nine years. I graduated from a BSN program (now have my MSN and PhD), worked at a 2 year CC (did LPN and ADN), and a Private Institution (with ADN and BSN) and a 4 year BSN program. At all of these particular institutions, 77 was passing. Math exams were done but not with an increasing scale as have been state before, had to pass the math exams with the same score (passing, and 80 in some cases, 3 times to take) throughout the program. This is what it was when I was there may have changed and during the time I was a student, 70 was passing in my BSN program. At all of these programs I have participated in (not grad level), my assessment is that between 30-50 percent of the class is lost between admission and graduation. This is not a good thing for me as a faculty memeber, and I can only speak for me on this forum. I want to see all students PASS but sometimes students work AGAINST themselves and if I can I want to pass along some of the wisdom gained over the past nine years.

1. I am not one to believe as a faculty member (personal beliefs) that I should tell a student if nursing is for them or not, I will never tell a student, you are not meant to be a nurse, because that is not my role, but what I will do is give them information to make a good decision for them.

2. Teaching/Learning is a contract between STUDENT and TEACHER and I believe it is a 50-50 contract, yes I MUST TEACH!!! (and teaching is the most difficult thing I have ever done) but dang it you must LEARN as well. With learning and teaching comes GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!!! I was fortunate enough to get my MSN in Nursing Education and I hope that helps me to actually be able to teach. But I do find that some students think its all on me and if they fail a test I am the one to blame, yes I do have responsibility for what I did or did not teach and I am one to always accept my responsibility and I try to be fair when evaluating student performance on an exam and in the clinical area but where is your acceptance of responsibility (not all students)?

3. Many students are "not ready" for nursing school. Now, it took me a while to figure this out, for myself as a student, but nursing school is not like other disciplines, so its not memorization and are you as a student looking at your NET score, really looking at it and not just trying to get the number needed for entry into the program. Are you looking at the section on your reading level? are you looking at the section on your stressors? are you looking at the section on your math skills? and WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT? I know now that I was not prepared as a student to go to nursing school, but I lucked out and things worked out for me, but I am no different than any other students, I worked HARD to get where I am. I did not get into nursing school on my first try, (it took me 3) and now I know getting in is EASY, staying in and GRADUATING is what is most difficult. I went to a good (college prep) high school, but was not prepared for college in the way I needed to be, so started off making crappy grades. I had no TEST TAKING skills until I finished nursing school, and had no STUDY SKILLS (active skills) until after my Junior level in school.

4. Each student should look at his/her weakness and strength level when going to a nursing program and not be in denial about what YOU NEED help with as a student and seek it out and get what YOU NEED to FINISH!!!, no one will give it to you, you need to walk up and get it for YOU. I think the reason why I passed my boards on the first time is because I studied with my weaknesses in mind. I did not take a Review but studied on my own after making an assessment, diagnosing my weaknesses, putting a study plan together (does this sound familiar?)

5. Yes, we all have "life issues." I worked throughout my program, but YOU need to make good choices for YOU, and if your work schedule is impeeding your progress you need to make a DECISION. One of the best questions I ever got when interviewing for a program was at my PhD interview I was asked, how will you FINANCE your education here? I thought that was a great question because I was like I'm working, I got it and was told, that's not what I mean, what if you can't work because of class or if your grade drops, do you have the financial stability to stay in school? I never tell a student to stop working (I know some of my colleagues do) but you need to make better choices for YOU, (remember you chose this), maybe you need a evening program, maybe you need a part time program (choices).

Finally to get back to your question, I wish you and your classmates well when trying to change policy, I have been fighting the same battles for nine years, a lot of teachers are in denial about what they are supposed to be doing and the lack of their teaching skills (oops did I say that) and don't go out to find the tools they need to be better. But, a BIG BUT... many students are in denial about their skills as well. I think if you are committed to fighting this you should, be respectful and humble when you approach, maybe you want to work with your student reps on the curriculum committee to get a feel for how to approach this effort and know the procedures for getting policies changed at your institution because just bringing in a bunch of this is how it is done other places, won't always get the job done. Its a very tricky to try to get policies changed, tricky and political, so talk to a teacher you trust there and ask them what's the best way to approach the situation.
Good Luck

Sorry for the long post everyone, but had some things on my mind.

We lost a girl a week before graduation during finals. That was pretty devastating for her, obviously. But we had the usual 70-75% (C) passing rate.
Regardless, your school will NOT maintain a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX forever.... no matter how many students take it. Even the best, top students have failed NCLEX on their first attempt because it is just SO different in style - compared to any tests given in school. It is a total and complete different mind set to take NCLEX and no matter how you slice it, some people just don't know what to expect and don't prepare well for it. Not that they're bad students or don't know their stuff....but it is just an out of the ordinary type test. The thing to remember...there is no nursing shortage. There is an EXPERIENCED nurse shortage.....so even after y'all pass NCLEX.....finding a job as a new grad with no experience (licensed or not) will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. That is the worst pay off after all your hard work in school and studying for NCLEX....no jobs in the end.
Good luck.

School requires 80% to pass

I dont see how lowering standards can make your program better. It sounds like you are looking at it from a purely emotional point of view. The fact is that standards have to remain high because of the type of work we do. No other discipline would even be having this conversation. Just because some of your friends may be failing does not mean there is something wrong with the program. Any decent program looses close to 1/2 of the students from start to finish. It is not supposed to be easy. Not being a good test taker is no excuse. If a person gets so anxious about a test that they cant think straight, what are they going to do in a code? Nursing is not a charity degree.