March 20th, 2004
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NCLEX® Examination Passing Standard
Revised for Public Safety
In December, NCSBN’s Board of Directors voted to revise the passing
standard for the
NCLEX-RN® examination. The rationale for increasing the passing
standard included
changes in U.S. health care delivery and nursing practice, which have
resulted in
increased acuity of clients as seen by entry-level RNs. After
considering all available
information, the Board of Directors determined that safe and effective
entry-level
RN practice requires a greater level of knowledge, skills, and
abilities than was required
in 1998, when the current standard was established.
The passing standard was increased from -0.3500 to -0.2800 logits on
the NCLEXRN
logistic scale (logits are units used to report relative differences
between candidate
ability estimates and item difficulties), and will take effect April 1,
2004, in conjunction
with the implementation of the new NCLEX-RN® Test Plan. (The new
test plan is
available free of charge the NCSBN Web site if electronically
downloaded; hard copy
format is available for a fee and order information is located in the
Resources section
of the Web site.)
The Board of Directors used multiple sources of information to guide
its discussion
and evaluation of the passing standard. NCSBN convened an expert panel
of nurses to
perform a criterion-referenced standard-setting procedure. The
nine-member panel
represents: the four NCSBN Areas, minorities, newly licensed RNs,
clinical practice
areas of newly licensed nurses, and faculty who supervise
basic/undergraduate students
in the clinical area. The panel’s findings supported creation of a
higher passing standard.
NCSBN also considered the results of a national survey of nursing
professionals
including nursing educators, directors of nursing in acute care
settings, and administrators
of long-term care facilities.
The NCSBN Board of Directors evaluates the passing standard for the
NCLEX-RN
examination every three years to protect the public by ensuring
minimal competence
for entry-level RNs. NCSBN coordinates the passing standard analysis
with the three year
cycle of test plan content evaluation, conducted using a practice
analysis of
entry-level RNs. This three-year cycle was developed to keep the test
content and
passing standard current with entry-level practice. ¦
© 2003 Reprinted from NCSBN from PDF
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