The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is used by boards of ... more The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is used by boards of nursing in licensure decision making and must be job related and reflect current entry-level nursing practice. This article describes the rigorous process used to develop the licensure examination for registered nurses.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., is committed to administering licensure ex... more The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., is committed to administering licensure examinations that test minimum, essential entry level nursing competence. The item development process used by the National Council includes extensive procedures that are designed to minimize the possibility that test items contain factors unrelated to the purpose of the examination. This article described one of those procedures, known as the NCLEX DIF process. The NCLEX DIF process combines a statistical review with a judgmental review to detect items that may be measuring other than the intended construct. National Council Licensure Examinations are closely scrutinized to ensure fairness and validity. While it may not be possible to conduct DIF analyses on classroom test items, nursing educators should endeavor to review all items for potential item bias by examining them for stereotypical and sensitive material. Guidelines to assist the nursing educator in the review process to prevent item bias are available (Wendt, Holz, Worcester, 1996; Shepard, 1982).
As a component of an undergraduate nursing program evaluation, the purpose of this study was to i... more As a component of an undergraduate nursing program evaluation, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the psychiatric clinical learning site on students' attitudes toward mental illness and psychiatric nursing. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized. ...
One nursing organization that closely tracks the direction of healthcare and nursing practice is ... more One nursing organization that closely tracks the direction of healthcare and nursing practice is the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. As the developer of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN examination), maintaining currency of the examination is of primary importance to the National Council. The authors discuss recent trends in the NCLEX-RN Test Plan.
This article is a continuation of the research on the development and evaluation of innovative it... more This article is a continuation of the research on the development and evaluation of innovative item formats for the NCLEX examinations that was published in the March/April 2009 edition of Nurse Educator. The authors discuss the innovative item templates and evaluate the statistical characteristics and level of cognitive processing required to answer the examination items. Innovative items contain content or functionality that isnot possible in a text-based, multiple-choice question(item).1 Thus, these item types have the potential for expanding an examination’s construct representation by providing opportunities to measure constructs or dimen-sions that cannot be measured, or cannot be measured well, using traditional multiple-choice items.2 Innovative types of items are also considered to have the capacity to tap higher levels of cognitive processing as compared with traditional text-based, multiple-choice items. Prior research on the statistical characteristics and cognitive proc...
This article presents the results of a research study that addresses how entry-level nurses proce... more This article presents the results of a research study that addresses how entry-level nurses process information in order to answer multiple-choice items versus a paired item that uses an alternate format. A talk-aloud protocol was used to assist in the identification of the cognitive processing that was required by entry-level nurses as they responded to items. A purposeful sample was used to select the participants: seven registered nurses and five practical nurses licensed for less than a year. Results of the study suggest that some items that use alternate formats require participants to use higher cognitive processing than a paired multiple-choice item. With the importance placed on the ability of the entry-level practitioners to think critically, regulators may want to consider the use of alternate format items in addition to multiplechoice items to assess higher order thinking skills.
The author describes the changes in the 2004 NCLEX-RN® Test Plan and provides information about t... more The author describes the changes in the 2004 NCLEX-RN® Test Plan and provides information about the alternate item formats that are being developed for the NCLEX examination. Nursing educators will learn details about the new test plan and review sample alternate items. Information from this article can be used for curriculum review and to prepare students to take the NCLEX examination.
The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is used by boards of ... more The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is used by boards of nursing in licensure decision making and must be job related and reflect current entry-level nursing practice. This article describes the rigorous process used to develop the licensure examination for registered nurses.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., is committed to administering licensure ex... more The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc., is committed to administering licensure examinations that test minimum, essential entry level nursing competence. The item development process used by the National Council includes extensive procedures that are designed to minimize the possibility that test items contain factors unrelated to the purpose of the examination. This article described one of those procedures, known as the NCLEX DIF process. The NCLEX DIF process combines a statistical review with a judgmental review to detect items that may be measuring other than the intended construct. National Council Licensure Examinations are closely scrutinized to ensure fairness and validity. While it may not be possible to conduct DIF analyses on classroom test items, nursing educators should endeavor to review all items for potential item bias by examining them for stereotypical and sensitive material. Guidelines to assist the nursing educator in the review process to prevent item bias are available (Wendt, Holz, Worcester, 1996; Shepard, 1982).
As a component of an undergraduate nursing program evaluation, the purpose of this study was to i... more As a component of an undergraduate nursing program evaluation, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the psychiatric clinical learning site on students' attitudes toward mental illness and psychiatric nursing. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized. ...
One nursing organization that closely tracks the direction of healthcare and nursing practice is ... more One nursing organization that closely tracks the direction of healthcare and nursing practice is the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. As the developer of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN examination), maintaining currency of the examination is of primary importance to the National Council. The authors discuss recent trends in the NCLEX-RN Test Plan.
This article is a continuation of the research on the development and evaluation of innovative it... more This article is a continuation of the research on the development and evaluation of innovative item formats for the NCLEX examinations that was published in the March/April 2009 edition of Nurse Educator. The authors discuss the innovative item templates and evaluate the statistical characteristics and level of cognitive processing required to answer the examination items. Innovative items contain content or functionality that isnot possible in a text-based, multiple-choice question(item).1 Thus, these item types have the potential for expanding an examination’s construct representation by providing opportunities to measure constructs or dimen-sions that cannot be measured, or cannot be measured well, using traditional multiple-choice items.2 Innovative types of items are also considered to have the capacity to tap higher levels of cognitive processing as compared with traditional text-based, multiple-choice items. Prior research on the statistical characteristics and cognitive proc...
This article presents the results of a research study that addresses how entry-level nurses proce... more This article presents the results of a research study that addresses how entry-level nurses process information in order to answer multiple-choice items versus a paired item that uses an alternate format. A talk-aloud protocol was used to assist in the identification of the cognitive processing that was required by entry-level nurses as they responded to items. A purposeful sample was used to select the participants: seven registered nurses and five practical nurses licensed for less than a year. Results of the study suggest that some items that use alternate formats require participants to use higher cognitive processing than a paired multiple-choice item. With the importance placed on the ability of the entry-level practitioners to think critically, regulators may want to consider the use of alternate format items in addition to multiplechoice items to assess higher order thinking skills.
The author describes the changes in the 2004 NCLEX-RN® Test Plan and provides information about t... more The author describes the changes in the 2004 NCLEX-RN® Test Plan and provides information about the alternate item formats that are being developed for the NCLEX examination. Nursing educators will learn details about the new test plan and review sample alternate items. Information from this article can be used for curriculum review and to prepare students to take the NCLEX examination.
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