Purpose:

To outline the requirements that must be met to progress in the nursing program at Platt College. 

Revision Responsibility: Dean of Nursing

Responsible Executive Office: Dean of Nursing

Revised: August 3, 2009, Revised: January 17, 2011 to reflect revised organizational chart, February 6, 2013 to reflect the addition of Section III Nursing Program Progression-effective April 1, 2013, and to include Nursing Critical Thinking to be taken after NSG 420; Notification regarding change in high stakes testing policy sent March 29th, 2015 with effective date of April 30th, 2015; May 1, 2015 to revise when ATI exams are administered and how they are accessed, deletion of maximum number of enrollments and failures (moved to SAP Policy), May 23, 2016 revision of value of Level One Proficiency score from 74 points to 50 points and addition of ATI information in NSG 452, June 29, 2018 to reflect timline for Nutrition ATI assessment. Revised November 4, 2020 for a January 4, 2021 implementation-percentage of proctored exame grade reduced to 10% (from a previous 20%).  ATI Proctorio used for student monitoring during COVID course transition to online format. Update: May 3, 2023 to revise ATI nutrition policy. Revision to policy March 14, 2024 effective date.

Policy:

I. Nursing Didactic, Laboratory, and Practicum Courses

Learning experiences in the didactic, laboratory, and practicum components in nursing courses are integrally linked.  A student must pass all course components to progress in the curriculum.  A failure or withdrawal in one or more of the didactic, laboratory, or practicum components will result in a grade change or changes to reflect the same status (withdrawal or failure) in the other didactic, laboratory, and/or practicum components.  For example, if a student fails NSG 312 L, but passes NSG 312, NSG 312 P the grade for each course component (didactic, laboratory, and practicum) will be changed to an "F".  A grade of "D" in any of the courses is considered a failing grade in accordance with Policy 02:06:00 Uniform Grading. If a student withdraws from NSG 312L, they must also be withdrawn from NSG 312 and NSG 312P.  The student will be required to repeat all components of the course at his/her own expense, and this will delay the student’s anticipated date of graduation. 

II. Standardized Assessments

Standardized assessments are administered within each of the core nursing courses.  The standardized assessment system used by The School of Nursing at Platt College is the Assessment Technology Institute, LLC (ATI).  ATI offers a systematic method of preparing for the NCLEX-RN licensure exam and provides students with measurement of their individual preparedness in the form of proficiency determination (Levels) for proctored examinations.  The nursing program also utilizes these assessments to guide and develop student learning in core content areas for generalist baccalaureate education, for faculty evaluation of course effectiveness, and as a benchmarking tool for program effectiveness in specific nursing areas.

 Exams within the core nursing courses identified below are worth at least 50% of the course grade. ATI Proctored Assessments in nursing core courses are integrated into the course grade at a weight of 10%.

ATI proctored assessments are conducted in the following courses:

• Fundamentals – Examination taken in NSG 250 Advanced Principles of Patient Centered Care (includes content from other fundamentals courses NSG 231, NSG 232, and NSG 282).
• Pharmacology – NSG 290
• Adult Medical-Surgical – Examination taken in NSG 386 (Adult Medical Surgical II). Content from NSG 385 is also included in this assessment.
• Pediatric Nursing – NSG 387
• Mental Health Nursing – NSG 388
• Nursing Care of the Childbearing Family – NSG 312
• Community Health Nursing – NSG 380
• Leadership in Nursing – NSG 451
• Nutrition – NSG 420

An ATI Comprehensive Predictor is taken in the Capstone course. This assessment does not use the proficiency levels, instead utilizing a likelihood of passing the NCLEX-RN measurement. The recommendation to achieve a proficiency level does not apply to this assessment.

A Critical Thinking Assessment is conducted in Study Success during the first quarter. An inability to achieve a satisfactory proficiency level on this standardized assessment does not impact a student’s ability to progress in the curriculum or to graduate.

Critical Thinking Exit Assessment- NSG 420 High Acuity II. This assessment is not included in the grading components of NSG 420 and inability to meet the programs ELA (expected level of achievement) on this standardized assessment will not impact a student’s ability to progress in the curriculum or graduate.

III.  Procedure for ATI Proctored Assessments

The expected level of achievement for students on an ATI proctored assessment is a Proficiency Level 2. This level ensures that you are able to readily meet NCLEX-RN standards for the content area.

ATI Policy Effective Spring Quarter 2024

Nursing courses with an ATI assessment will have 10 percent of the course grade based on performance on the Proctored ATI Assessment. Students should make achieving a Level 2 their goal on all proctored ATI assessments. Students will have three attempts during the quarter to achieve a minimum of a Level 2. The final grade score will be based on the highest grade result attained from multiple attempts.

 The attempts will be at approximately the midpoint of the quarter (Week 5), at Week 9, and during Finals Week. The assessments will be taken in class and monitored per ATI policy during the next scheduled proctored assessment in the course. Students will remediate by completing a focused review of the proctored examination prior to the next attempt. A student that achieves a Level 2 on the first or second attempt will not need to test further, although they may choose to do so to increase their score to a Level 3. That is optional. ATI allows three student attempts per ATI nursing course for the proctored assessment at Platt College.

Students will have access to Practice Assessments A and B to prepare for proctored exams but will no longer receive a grade for remediation for doing these. The practice assessments will be a resource for prep and may be taken multiple times.

Grade Scoring Levels for the Proficiency Results are:

Level 3 = 100%

Level 2 = 95%

Level 1= 50%

Below Level 1 = 0

Level 2 on all ATIs is also the level of achievement for specialty clinical placement except for the Nutrition and Leadership ATIs.  Students that do not achieve a Level 2 within 3 attempts, will need to do a 4^th attempt at their own expense to achieve a Level2 if they want a clinical specialty placement prior to the Capstone placement deadline. The maximum number of attempts for the proctored assessment is four.

If a student fails a course but has achieved a Level 2 or higher on their course proctored assessment attempts, the student will not be required to take the proctored assessment again during the course repeat.

IV. ATI Proficiency Cut Scores

ATI Proficiency Level Cut Scores were established through a formal study in accordance with recommendations of the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing

A student receiving a Proficiency Below Level 1:

• Is NOT expected to meet NCLEX-RN standards in this content area.
• Has NOT demonstrated the minimum level of knowledge in this content area required to support academic readiness for subsequent curricular content.
• Has NOT met the absolute minimum expectations for performance in this area.

A student meeting the criterion for Proficiency Level 1:

• Is expected to just meet NCLEX-RN standards in this content area
• Should demonstrate the absolute minimum level of knowledge in this content area required to support academic readiness for subsequent curricular content.
• Should meet the absolute minimum expectations for performance in this content area.

A student meeting the criterion for Proficiency Level 2:

• Is expected to readily meet NCLEX-RN standards in this content area.
• Should demonstrate a level of knowledge in this content area that more than adequately supports academic readiness for subsequent curricular content.
• Should exceed minimum expectations for performance in this content area.

A student meeting the criterion for Proficiency Level 3:

• Is expected to exceed NCLEX-RN standards in this content area.
• Should demonstrate a high level of knowledge in this content area that confidently supports academic readiness for subsequent curricular content.
• Should exceed most expectations for performance in this content area.