Louisiana’s Grambling State University announced via an Oct. 23 Facebook post that for the second year running, 100% of its graduating class in the GSU School of Nursing passed the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses).
As the post explains, the state of Louisiana requires applicants to score at least 80% to pass its state test, which the Louisiana Board of Nursing mandates in order for someone to become a registered nurse.
Grambling’s success comes as the program has been revived following the program’s shutdown by the Louisiana State Board of Education in 2015. In 2018, according to The Journal of Black Higher Education (JBHE), the program returned to the university. Four years later, it saw 100% of its graduating class pass the NCLEX on its first try, in addition to being recognized as one of the finest nursing programs at any HBCU in the country.
After the class passed its state test in 2022, it became the first class in the school’s history to achieve this feat. Dr. Meg Brown, associate dean of GSU’s Nursing School, said in a post on the school’s website in 2022, “Strategies were put into place to improve the NCLEX-RN passage rate.”
She continued: “It appears that they worked with students passing at 100% for first-time testers. The full state approval allows the nursing students to be eligible for scholarships earmarked for nursing schools with full state approval.”
According to Nurse.org, Grambling’s nursing program ranks number 4 among HBCU nursing programs in the country, citing factors like the program’s 100% job placement rate, 100% certificate rate, and 100% job placement rate for its graduate program.
Rick Gallot, president of Grambling State University, credited Brown and her vision for bringing the university to its current success, telling JBHE, “We didn’t come this far to stumble and fall. We’re going to work with Dr. Brown to make sure that her nursing vision leads not only to the implementation of this program but to developing scores of successful nurses practicing across northern Louisiana, this state and this nation.”
RELATED CONTENT: E-40 DONATES $100,000 TO GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY