California Community College System Approves NLN's Pre-Admission Examination

Seventy Percent of State’s RNs, Its Largest Group of Health Care Providers, Graduate from Community College Nursing Programs

November 20, 2007 — New York, NY — The National League for Nursing has received approval from the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community College System that it may sell the NLN Pre-Admission Examination to the state’s network of community colleges, the world’s largest system of higher education. Chancellor Diane Woodruff oversees 72 districts comprising 109 campuses and 64 educational centers that provide educational, vocational, and transfer programs to more than 2.5 million students. About 70 percent of the state’s registered nurses, its largest group of health care providers, graduate from nursing programs offered by the community college system.

The Pre-Admission Exam is a key component of the NLN’s Total Assessment Program, utilized by all types of nursing programs in 44 states, to provide a valid and reliable basis for evaluating nursing school applicants. The NLN publishes two versions of the Pre-Admission Exam, one for applicants to schools preparing registered nurses (PAX-RN) and another for candidates for the licensed practical nurse certificate (PAX-PN). Multiple forms of each test have been constructed to ensure their integrity. They are available in both computer-based and paper-based formats.

The Pre-Admission Exam measures verbal ability, reading comprehension, science knowledge, and basic mathematical reasoning and computation skills, all abilities proven key to successful performance in nursing programs. “These tests are designed to maximize retention of admitted students and therefore, the number of graduates who ultimately enter the profession,” said Dr. Beverly Malone, CEO of the NLN. “We are delighted that the decision by Chancellor Woodruff will now give the vast California Community College System access to these state-of-the-art norm-referenced tests. Nurse educators develop and update our examinations through rigorous test product development processes in concert with psychometric standards — features that distinguish NLN products from our competitors.”

The NLN’s Online Pre-Admission Examination Registration System eases the workload of nursing school administrations by automating the student registration process. This system electronically manages each school’s examination schedule by establishing test sessions in collaboration with each school, managing seating capacity, registering students online, and processing payments electronically. With this innovative system in place, the NLN automatically closes registration once a test site is full and provides 24-hour-7-day-a-week live technical support for its computer-based tests.

Understanding the inherent psychometric problems of measurement for the nursing profession, the National League for Nursing adheres to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Research in Education, 1999) to construct all of its tests.

Contact the NLN Customer Support Center at 800-732-8NLN (8656) or customerhelp@nln.org for more information.

Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 24,000 individual and 1,100 institutional members.