The prediction of State Board Test Pool Examination scores from National League for Nursing Achievement Test scores and academic indices

INTRODUCTION. The contemporary demand for cost-effectiveness in education has created a need to examine whether or not education is fulfilling its societal goals in ways which utilize resources economically and with maximum benefit. Nursing education is also experiencing this demand. In Texas from 1973 to 1977, 7,000 graduates of nursing programs were denied licensure due to failure on one or more of the SBPTE subtests. This represents the expenditure of $15 million dollars by these students and their families for educational programs in nursing. These individuals were then unable to practice their profession because they were unable to meet the minimum criteria for licensure. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM. The relationship between scores on the National League for Nursing Achievement Tests, grade point average and grades from four nursing courses and performance on the SBPTE were examined in order to develop a prediction equation for each of the five SBPTE subtests. DATA ANALYSIS. The analysis of the data was conducted in five phases. The first phase involved determining the means and standard deviations for each of the fifteen variables. The second phase involved generating a matrix of the Pearson Product- Moment correlations between the variables. The third phase consisted of a stepwise multiple regression analysis on the data collected on a random sample of one-half of the total group in order to generate a prediction equation for each subtest. The fourth phase involved the application of the equations to the data of the remaining subjects to determine predicted scores. The predicted scores were then correlated to their actual scores to determine the validity of the equations. The fifth phase consisted of comparing the number of students who were predicted to fail to the number who actually did fail and comparing the identities of the predicted and actual failures. CONCLUSIONS. The entire group demonstrated little variability in grades received in both general and nursing courses. The level of performance on the NLNAT's was comparable to the level of academic achievement and little variation was found in these scores. SBPTE performance was uniformly below the national mean and tended to vary more than the national sample. The relationships between the independent and dependent variables were uniformly positive. The NLNAT scores were found to be the most highly correlated of the variables with the SBPTE's followed by the grade point average and the nursing course grades. A prediction equation was generated for each subtest. Each equation had at least two of the NLNAT's as significant predictors and three of the equations also included a course grade. The cross-validation of the predicted scores with the actual scores yielded smaller correlation coefficients than those obtained from the generation of the equations. This is consistent with what is to be expected when equations derived from one group are applied to another. The correlations between the predicted scores and the pass/fail criterion indicated that the equations had less validity in predicting passing or failing than in predicting score values. However, when the number of students predicted to fail was compared to the number who actually failed, it was evident that the equations were accurate. This was confirmed when the identities of the predicted and actual SBPTE failures were compared. RECOMMENDATIONS. It was recommended that the equations developed by this research should be applied to the student population in order to provide a basis for a counseling program. Recommendations were made for placing medical-surgical nursing as the first clinical course for all students. Additional research was recommended to explore the remaining 50% of unexplained variance in SBPTE performance. Additional methods of data analysis and cross-validation procedures were also recommended for use in subsequent research on this topic. It was also suggested that the SBPTE's and the NLNAT's be examined to determine if what they measure is consistent with the demands of contemporary nursing practice. This could make possible the use of these examinations as a guide to content development as well as a basis for analyzing institutional evaluation methods.Education, College o