AAS / AS in Nursing Degree Program Outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes (2015-2016)

1. Use a caring holistic approach to provide and advocate for safe quality care for patients and families in an environment that values the uniqueness, dignity, and diversity of patients. (Patient-centered Care)
2. Apply the nursing process to make nursing judgments, substantiated with evidence to provide safe, quality patient care across the lifespan. (Nursing Judgment)
3. Use principles of management and delegation to implement plans of care with members of the intraprofessional team to achieve safe, quality patient outcomes. (Nursing Judgment)
4. Demonstrate the standards of professional nursing practice and core values within an ethical and legal framework. (Professional Identity)
5. Apply principles of leadership and interprofessional collaboration to improve patient outcomes. (Professional Identity)
6. Use interpreted published research and information technology to improve the quality of care for patients. (Spirit of Inquiry)

Assessment of Student Learning Program Outcomes

Student learning outcomes within each nursing requirement support students' achievement of the six learning program outcomes of the associate degree in nursing program. Students must pass all requirements to graduate from the program. The achievement of student learning program outcomes is assessed through direct and indirect methods and various measures.

Direct Methods

The Focused Clinical Competencies Assessment^® (FCCA^®) is a Phase III requirement of the associate degree program that measures knowledge, understanding, and applied skills required of the associate degree nurse. Presented below are Summer 2015 - Spring 2016 average results of the FCCA as aligned with the six student learning program outcomes.

The Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination^® (CPNE^®) is a dichotomously-scored (pass/fail), criterion-referenced performance examination. It is administered in the authentic patient care environment and is designed to assess three essential, overlapping facets within the domain of nursing practice: application of the nursing process to demonstrate critical thinking, implementation of critical elements within areas of care representing the entire universe of nursing care, and use of the specified psychomotor skills deemed essential to beginning nursing practice.

Result: Students may attempt the CPNE up to three times. Between Fiscal Years 2013 and 2017 (July 2012 - June 2017), a total of 6,640 individual students attempted the CPNE and 62.2% passed the CPNE by June 30, 2017.

Indirect Methods

Alumni surveys are administered upon graduation and one year post-graduation. With alumni permission, surveys are administered to their supervisors one year post-graduation. New student learning program outcomes (SLPOs) were approved by the faculty in July 2014 and phased into nursing requirements beginning with the Fall 2014 trimester. The Exit Survey was updated in August 2015, and the One-year Survey and Supervisor Survey will be updated August 2016 to offer students one year of exposure to the new SLPOs before surveying.

Goal: The expected level of achievement for the one-year alumni survey (to be available for FY2017 reporting) is an average of 4.5 or higher on a 6.0 scale.

For informational purposes only, graduates between July 2015 through June 2016, who responded to the Exit Survey (n=255, response rate=41.4%), indicated high levels of achievement across all SLPOs.

Assessment of Program Outcomes

Completion of the AAS or AS Nursing Program

The associate degree in nursing programs are designed to be completed at your own pace. Students in either the AS or AAS program are required to complete all degree requirements within seven years of enrollment. The average time to completion for part-time students is four years. Approximately 13% of students who were new to Excelsior College and enrolled between July 2012 and June 2013 completed the program within 9 trimesters (3 years) of attempting their first nursing component requirement.

NCLEX-RN^® Licensure Exam

Excelsior College tracks student performance on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing NCLEX-RN®, which is the examination used in licensing Registered Nurses.

Results of associate degree in nursing first-time pass rates for Excelsior College, the Nation, and New York State include the following:

Job Placement Rates

Based on responses to the one-year alumni survey between July 2013 and June 2016 (n=375, response rate=15.6%), 95% of graduates indicated full- (85%) or part-time (10%) employment, with at least 96% of those employed working within the field of nursing.

Learn more about the Associate in Nursing Degree Programs