Can this really happen?!?

[AFNurse2b13]

If you are reading this, then the tutorial for ‘new members' was right when it suggested to pick a vague and catchy title!

Situation: This topic is really about the incorporation of standardized testing within a school's curriculum. (there have been other threads about this topic, but most of them are old, or closed)

Background: I am a BSN student who's current school is changing their curriculum to incorporate ATI as a part of our grade (15%). Eventually, this will include an exit exam that must be passed prior to graduating from the program and taking the NCLEX. We were admitted to the school without consenting to pay for these additional programs (ATI), and it was a big shock when we were informed about this during orientation (and not during admission). My school has since corrected this oversight, and all newly admitted students must agree to purchase ATI, and they must agree to purchase the mandatory ATI Live Review (the total negotiated costs for these programs is about $1000 and broken up in two separate payments).

Assessment: Our school is implementing these changes (largely because of ATI lobbyist”) due to the severe drop in NCLEX pass scores over the past 5 years. We are currently on probation with the BON, and we are about to lose our accreditation! I am not opposed to ATI (or similar programs), but I take strong issue with the lack of faculty experience. It is my opinion that the teachers of this school are HIGHLY unprepared to educate students and prepare them for the NCLEX (many of them being first time teachers). Therefore, I have a problem with implementing standardized testing into the curriculum, WITHOUT addressing the poorly prepared teachers and their poor teaching abilities.

Recommendation: I personally think we should adhere to the BON's recommendation of:

1. Not using these programs as High stakes testing” where passing is needed for graduation or program progression
   
2. Not patterning curriculum changes based solely off testing criteria
   

Additional Info: I am not afraid of passing ATI, nor do I believe that it will negatively affect my GPA. (I am an A-B student, who has maintained a level 2 on almost all my ATI exams ... darn Pharm ATI!!) I personally LOVE using ATI, but I feel conflicted about how our school is trying to cover an arterial bleed with a bandaid. Obviously using ATI to increase our board scores is an interim fix”, but it doesn't address the poor education we are receiving!

Questions:

1. Should mandatory testing be such a large part of a curriculum?
   
2. Is there a conflict of interest between a company (ATI), who writes the NCLEX, also lobbying our school (and preventing the free choice of using other programs) and making each student pay almost $1000 to use their program?
   
3. What can be done to address this disturbing trend in education?
   
4. Are we the only school with these concerns? I'm in Florida, what other states have these problems? What has been done to address them?
   

Thanks for your time!

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

The way I see it, your school has new measures set in place in order to help students pass the NCLEX and for them to keep their accredidation. They are ultimately doing this for YOUR benefit. If you don't like it, leave!

[AFNurse2b13]

If you don't like it, leave!

I will always be confused by this ridiculous notion. Hey... it's getting real difficult here, and things are not going the way I planned... maybe I should just quit...” Absurd.

To some degree I can understand where you are coming from... but I would have to assume that this is the only recourse for this school to prevent losing their accreditation. I know for a fact that it is not. The school could address the poorly prepared teachers. The school could fully endorse the use of ATI as a legitimate resource for supplementing our education (instead of having multiple faculty talk against ATI and downplay the importance).

I could go on with a list of what I think are solutions, but I am interested in finding out if there are other schools with this problem. I'm interested in starting a dialogue about the lack of quality education in Nursing and the over-reliance on standardized tests (like ATI). Neither of those two goals were addressed by your comment.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

I will always be confused by this ridiculous notion. Hey... it's getting real difficult here, and things are not going the way I planned... maybe I should just quit...” Absurd.

To some degree I can understand where you are coming from... but I would have to assume that this is the only recourse for this school to prevent losing their accreditation. I know for a fact that it is not. The school could address the poorly prepared teachers. The school could fully endorse the use of ATI as a legitimate resource for supplementing our education (instead of having multiple faculty talk against ATI and downplay the importance).

I could go on with a list of what I think are solutions, but I am interested in finding out if there are other schools with this problem. I'm interested in starting a dialogue about the lack of quality education in Nursing and the over-reliance on standardized tests (like ATI). Neither of those two goals were addressed by your comment.

You do understand that you're going to a crappy school, right? You understand that in every syllabus there is usually a clause that states that class requirements may change at any time without warning or recourse?

Build a bridge and get over it. Yes, your school SHOULD have better instructors but you're going to a crappy school so that's never gonna happen. These are unfortunately the breaks.

[RBlis]

Could you disclose what school you're attending?

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Don't disclose the name of your school!!

Did you know that ATI strongly states that its tests should never be used to prevent graduation for those who score poorly?

As a former professor, my opinion is that ATI is not very helpful and that the pressure to pass those tests, if it's a top-of-the-heap priority, inhibits learning of many other things.

[elkpark]

It may be that the school is taking longer-term, more constructive steps to address the NCLEX pass rate issue, but things like improving the caliber of the faculty and reorganizing the curriculum take time, time that the BONs don't really give schools when they are put on probation. The BONs don't say, "You've got a problem, take five or six years to fix it or we're shutting you down!" Lots of schools do develop longer term improvement plans, but they also have to do something quick to fix the immediate problem.

And, of course, some schools just settle for the easy, quick fix with no intentions of making any substantive improvements.

The other option is that, as others have noted, you are attending a school that doesn't care. The Florida legislature passed legislation several years ago intentionally relaxing the standards and requirements for nursing programs, specifically to make it easier (and cheaper) to open and operate nursing programs within the state. Those chickens are starting to come home to roost. There have been many reports of FL schools with poor NCLEX pass rates. It may be that you're at one of the "Quick Buck U" schools. Yes, there are a lot of low-quality nursing schools across the country, not just in FL, many of them the proprietary (private for-profit) schools, and what frustrates a lot of us experienced RNs is that those schools manage to stay in business because students who don't know any better continue enrolling and paying tuition to those schools. If they couldn't get students, they'd have to make changes or shut down -- but there seems to always be a steady flow of "fresh meat" potential students willing to sign up on the basis of less research and investigation than they would do to buy a new refrigerator.

Lots of students post here about how unhappy they are with the quality of their schools and the education they're receiving, and, yes, a lot of us advise, if you're unhappy with the quality of the education you're getting, cut your losses and quit giving them money. Continuing in the program and complaining about it here isn't going to change anything. Yes, transferring to another, better program is difficult. But there are large numbers of programs offering high-quality teaching and excellent education throughout the US. Continuing to attend a low-quality program is just enabling it to continue to be a low-quality program, and throwing good money after bad.

I hope you'll be able to find a satisfying solution to your situation. Best wishes!