Marilyn Frank-Stromborg

NIU School of Nursing grads
rank high on state boards

by Mark McGowan

Graduates from the NIU School of Nursing continue to turn in brilliant scores on the state board exams.

Scores in the 95th percentile on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure Examination (NCLEX) rank NIU as sixth among Illinois’ 22 nursing programs with graduates in the fall semester of 2002 and 93rd among the nation’s 546 programs with fall semester graduates.

Comparatively, the pass rate is 86 percent for all nursing programs in Illinois and 85 percent for all U.S. programs. Nursing school graduates must pass the comprehensive four-hour test to officially become registered nurses and practice anywhere in the country.

For NIU, the impressive fall 2002 results come on the heels of a 98th percentile performance by May 2002 graduates.

Marilyn Frank Stromborg, chair of the NIU School of Nursing, is not surprised.

The school’s stellar faculty is willing to go the extra mile for students, she said. Meanwhile, NIU has instituted a prep program for NCLEX, implemented stringent criteria for students’ grades in pre-requisite courses and raised the grade point average necessary to remain in the school.

“We continue to have more exceptional applicants for our programs than we can handle,” Stromborg said. “These NCLEX scores show us, however, that we are choosing our students well and providing them the quality of education they need to become excellent nurses. We at NIU are doing our best to combat the national nursing shortage by adding well-trained and well-rounded nurses to the workforce who are more likely to remain in the nursing profession.”

6-23-03