School on Probation by State Board

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My school just notified all of the nursing students that they have been placed on probation by the Wisconsin State Board of Nursing due to a low first pass rate on the NCLEX. The dean of the SON has said that this does not impact their accreditation. The school is accredited through spring of 2009 and will be under review for accreditation renewal at that time. The school has said that they would be open with the accreditation council and seek their input for improvement.

My concern is how this is going to impact my education. I don't completely buy into the idea that the probation will not impact accreditation. I understand that they are two different things, but both examine the quality of the program and if the quality is not up to standards then that would have an effect on accreditation as well. I have heard that if a school loses accreditation, your work completed is not transferable to other nursing programs. Does anyone know if this is true? Even if the school passes accreditation, but fails the state board approval...what impact would this have on the students? (I asked the dean this question and she would not give a direct answer)

My gut instinct is telling me to transfer out of the school now, but I will probably fall back a semester in the process. For this reason, I just want to gather as much info as possible before making a decision.

Any input is grateful! Thanks!

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Probation is just that...probation.

As of now, they are still accredited. If they do not improve, they will not be.

As long as your program was accredited at the time that you graduated, it will not affect you furthering your education should your program lose the accreditation at a later date, as this is no different than graduating from a program that was phased out or a school that shut down.

As long as you graduate in May...this will not affect you.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

As you seem to well understand, there are 3 separate (but related) processes here -- State Board eligibility to take NCLEX, accreditation, and the quality of your education.

1. The probationary period with the State Board probably covers the school through a specified time period. In other words, the graduates will be allowed to take the NCLEX and get their license at least until that probationary period expires. When are you scheduled to graduate? Do you have time to graduate under the probabation? Find out how long the school has to improve or be closed.

However, the school may very well take some significant steps to improve the passing rate of its next couple of classes. That means YOUR CLASS may have to jump through some extra hoops before the school will approve you to take the test -- and you can't take the test unless the school gives its official approval of you as a graduate and does your paperwork. So, you need to be prepared to deal with whatever extra requirements they add to your program -- or raising of standards -- etc.

Another thing that might happen is that the upper-level of the school administration will decide that they don't want to make the investment necessary to save the school. I think you students should get together and ask to have a meeting with school officials higher than the nursing program dean/director. Ask them whether or not they plan to make the investment needed. If not, get out.

2. The accreditation is a little less clear. Again, find out when the visit will happen in relation to your graduation. If you graduate before they come, then accreditation is not an issue for you. If you graduate after their visit ... that's another story. On the positive side, I haven't seen the accreditation agencies simply cut people off abruptly. They usually give a school a warning, put them on probation for a while, and give them a chance to improve before removing their accreditation. That gives you a longer window of time to work with.

3. The final issue is the quality of your education. Why is your school's NCLEX pass rate so low? You need to figure that out. Is it because they accept a lot of marginal students and "pass them along" -- but provide a good education for those students who are better learners? Such a school might be providing YOU with a good education, but still have a low pass rate. Do the students who get good grades have a high pass rate? Or do a lot of students who do OK in school fail the NCLEX? If students who "do OK" fail, then they are obviously not teaching the right things very well. Those are the kinds of questions you should be asking.

Is the low pass rate because the school does not provide a good education? If that's the case, you might want to seek a better education regardless of what happens with the other issues.

My recommendation is that you start seriously exploring your other options, maybe even apply to another school -- while you gather more information about what your school is planning to do about the identified problems. That way, you will be prepared to move quickly if you decide to transfer as more information becomes available. If the school decides to close voluntarily (unlikely, but possible), arrangements might be made to help you students transfer smoothly other local progams. I've seen that done before.

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Thank you for your responses. llg, you have given me a lot of great information that I have been seeking, I really appreciate your time in responding.

For a little more background, I am in my first semester of my junior year, so I am scheduled to graduate in 2010--just beyond the accreditation period.

It is difficult to determine exactly why the SON has a low first-pass rate. The dean has said it is due to students taking the test without preparation in order to get an idea of what it would be like, then study for it after the first attempt. They are addressing the issue by starting to require entrance and exit exams.

There are other problems as well. The college has been focusing on increasing student enrollment, and now seem to be short on faculty, staff, and supplies with class numbers increasing in the SON. I spoke to one of my instructors about this since our tuition is around 10k/semester, I felt we should have the supplies/resources needed to practice. She said that she didn't know where the money is going, "but it definitely isn't to the nursing program."

In contemplating your advice, and taking a step back from the busy semester to look at the reality. I am definitely going to start looking into other options!

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