what rights do we have?

[Sumshine]

Hello all! I am hoping someone on here will be able to help me understand better.

Is a nursing school allowed to change the testing rules 2/3 through an 18-month program without it being in writing and without teaching the material being tested on? They also haven't even provided the required books yet so that we can study for the test. Is this allowed? We were verbally told that since the schools nclex rates are down, that we will now be taking additional computerized tests that will be included in our final grade along with the other 15 tests for that course. Before the schools nclex rates were down, the computerized testing was only a pass/fail thing and was not included in our grades because it was for our benefit to see how we'll do on the nclex. Most students did poorly on the computerized tests because we are not taught any of the content and the questions on the computerized tests don't even correlate with what we're taught from our class textbooks. Does anybody know what a school is allowed to do? Are they allowed to spring this on us legally when we only have 6-months to go? And when it's not documented anywhere that these tests are a requirement to pass the course?

[llg, PhD, RN]

Your question is a legal question, not a nursing question. To get an answer that you can rely on, you'll need to talk to a lawyer, not a nurse.

However ... unless you have an identifiable contract with a school, schools are generally given a lot of leeway when it comes to establishing the criteria for student evaluation and grading. But if you want to explore your options, go through the school's chain of command -- and consult an attorney if not satisfied.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

If they changed things in the middle of a course, you could challenge the change as it was not included in the course syllabus. However, changes to the curriculum as a whole are out of your control, as the previous poster said. However, if there is such a disconnect between your school's curriculum and the standardized tests (ATI?), then perhaps a very politely worded letter to the curriculum committee signed by most of the affected cohort would be in order, asking that the curriculum be modified to reflect the material on the tests as performance on these will be included in your grade. In fact, if you're going to write said letter, make sure the people in your cohort who are quiet, do well in class, and don't complain about every single exam are included in the letter writing process. The instructors know who those people are, and are more likely to listen to them if they speak up about a curriculum issue.

Also, how are you able to take the tests without having purchased the review books that go along with the tests? Those silly books are how ATI and others justify charging the absurd amount of money that they do.

Incidentally, my school recently moved away from including pass/fail on the ATI in the course grade, merely making Level 2 proficiency a mandatory part of completing certain courses. Then again, we're a Master's Entry program accredited as a BSN program, so we're slightly weird.

[caliotter3]

I would think twice about consulting an attorney. Schools have the power and there is little you can do to convince them to change any policy that they do not want to change. Your best bet is to keep your head low and get through the program. Fighting them tooth and nail at every twist and turn is costly both in terms of money spent and energy wasted. You most likely will not get anywhere but out on your ear with no nursing education and no nursing license.

[Sumshine]

Thank you so much for your replies. We are arranging a student council meeting to discuss these changes being placed upon us. I agree with the attorney advice - not much luck with that because school's always have all the control. However, if by chance a student does fail a course because of the computerized testing that is not written on the school/course syllabus, then I would think that there would be some kind of legal recourse. This school is known to fail students (most believe it's to obtain more money from the students for having to pay to repeat). We are all wondering if that's not why they're adding in this computerized testing now. One would think that if they saw that their nclex rates were dropping that they would modify what they're teaching to help their students pass the nclex rather than add in another test that most students will fail. Nobody understands their reasoning behind it - that's what's making everyone so frustrated. It doesn't seem at all as if it's to help the students. Before when we took the computerized tests, the teachers couldn't even answer our incorrect questions because they didn't even know what the tests consisted of. Go figure. Just seems so unfair and like they're out to get us, not help us.

[Sumshine]

Also, the books (yes, ATI) are distributed each semester. We paid for all of them up front in with our tuition. Each semester we get additional books handed out to us. We haven't gotten the books we need for this semester yet and the first computerized test is only a few weeks away. We start clinical rotations next week and you all know how much paperwork and time that involves, so we wanted to have our books before rotations start so we could at least start to study. Admin says the books aren't in yet. In the past, this wasn't a problem because we were never graded on the tests - we only needed to pass them with a certain percentage and it was all kept separate from our regular course grades. Not anymore - which is why everybody is so upset.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

That's weird - at my school we each got a crate at the beginning of the program with all the ATI books we would need, along with the DVDs.