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First-time NCLEX-RN pass rates are often used as an important criterion to evaluate the effectiveness of prelicen-sure nursing programs (Taylor, Loftin, & Reyes, 2014). This article describes student coaching as one specific strategy that a prelicensure baccalaureate nursing program implemented as part of a comprehensive improvement plan to address declining pass rates. Pass rates had dropped from 85.71% to 64.86% over a period of 4 years and the program faced sanctions from the State Board of Nursing, as well as concerns about meeting standards set by accreditors. Negative publicity about the pass rates led to declines in enrollment, and the program had reached a crisis moment. Strategies were implemented within the program that focused on curricular, faculty, and student factors (Czekanski, Hoerst, & Kurz, 2018) with one intervention, coaching, specifically targeted on closing the loop on graduates' preparedness for taking the NCLEX-RN.
Beginning in 2012, the program was awarded a Health Resources and Service Administration Nursing Workforce Diversity grant and established a tutoring center known as Strategies for Success. The center was initially designed to provide individual sessions for diverse, underserved students. Tutoring sessions focused on study habits, time management, and test-taking skills. Students were introduced to the center, and demand for services increased and program resources were used to extend tutoring services to all nursing students.
Meanwhile, as the nursing program addressed curricular standards and implemented more rigorous progression criteria to address first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates (Czekanski et al., 2018), it became apparent that students needed additional support. In the fall of 2014, the program had its third consecutive first-time pass rate below the state mandated rate of 80%. Although policies had been put in place to ensure students would meet selected benchmarks within the program to graduate, some students who were expected to pass the licensure examination on the first attempt were not successful. These students had met all course requirements, a standardized testing benchmark, specifically a Exit Exam HESI score of at least 850 and had completed the required in person NCLEX-RN review course.
With the demonstrated success of the tutoring center, the university decided in the fall of 2015 to fund a full-time position of Tutor and Retention Coordinator (TRC). The position was created with the goal of increasing the retention...