IUP Nursing graduates have achieved, for the third year in a row, a more than 90 percent passing rate for first-time test takers on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX).
The NCLEX is administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. All nursing graduates are required to pass the exam before being permitted to practice in the field.
IUP students scored a 96.1 percent passing rate for the October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010, calendar year.
鈥淭he national pass rate for first-time test takers is 87.5 percent, and for Pennsylvania students, the rate is 86 percent,鈥 Dr. Lisa Palmer, chair of the Department of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, said.
In previous years, IUP students have achieved passing rates of 93.9 percent (2007鈥2008) and 92.1 percent (2008鈥2009).
鈥淣ot only did we surpass the national passing average, we outperformed all other Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education schools and many of our competitor schools from the Pittsburgh and surrounding region,鈥 Palmer said. 鈥淥ur students are to be congratulated for this outstanding performance, which reflects their hard work and commitment to the program.
鈥淥ur department has worked diligently to implement a variety of strategies to continue to improve our scores, but it would not be possible without the efforts of our faculty, who continue to hold the academic bar high, spend extra time developing high-level test questions and donate time to tutoring and test reviews for our students. These efforts have certainly paid off, with three consecutive years of increased scores.鈥
About five hundred students are enrolled in the Nursing program at IUP.