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There are positive signs amid Florida's dismal performance on nursing exam

By Kiley Petracek

February 14, 2025 at 5:00 AM EST

Florida’s NCLEX pass rates have trended below the national average for years, but in 2024, grads from nursing programs in the State University System posted impressive results.

You may have read a recent study that found that Florida had the nation’s lowest passing rate on the exam required for nurses to receive their licenses.

The pathway to become a registered nurse or practical nurse includes taking the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX.

A PN focuses primarily on bedside care, while an RN is able to interpret data and make decisions about patient care. There are two versions of the exam, depending on the license type and a student’s education.

In 2024, Florida had an 84.9% passing rate on the NCLEX-RN exam, compared with the national rate of 91.2%.

This is not a new trend. Florida has posted similar numbers for the past decade, hitting a low of 68.8% in 2020, almost 18% below the national average.

When it comes to the NCLEX-PN exam, the performance was similar: Florida had an 80.8% passing rate in 2024, compared with 88.4% nationally.

The author of the report, Florida Center for Nursing executive director Rayna Letourneau, points to three reasons why Florida is lagging: time between tests, the number of students taking the tests, and student and faculty support.

“In 2024, we had (10%) less test takers from Florida compared to 2023, but we had a higher pass rate compared to 2023,” Letourneau said.


The report also found that the more time that passed from nursing school graduation to date of test, the lower the pass rates, Letourneau said.


“People that are waiting from graduation until the time they test, the less likely they're going to pass on the first attempt, and that's important to recognize,” Letourneau said.


But there may be some positives when it comes to the third reason: support for nursing school students and faculty from the community and state.

The Florida Legislature has invested $138 million toward the State University System, supplying PIPELINE and LINE funds since 2022. The programs provide grants to institutions for scholarships, faculty and equipment.

“We have received a tremendous amount of support from the state of Florida, starting with the start of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” said Usha Menon, dean of the University of South Florida College of Nursing.

Usha Menon, dean of the USF College of Nursing, says the program's success is due, in part, to support from the state as well as the school's "collective ambition." (322x399, AR: 0.8070175438596491)

“We were one of the first states, I think, initially to just make that massive investment in nursing workforce development.”

USF’s NCLEX-RN passing rate in 2024 was 97%.

“Something I love about this college and this university is the ability to really foster that sense of community and keep people together,” Menon said. “So it's a collective ambition. We're all working toward that one goal, but we're doing it together.”

Including USF, nine of the 10 state universities with nursing programs topped the national rate of 92%. The only university not on that list was Florida State University. New College of Florida and Florida Polytechnic University do not have nursing programs.

The report found that one other factor in Florida’s test performance is the national nursing faculty shortage.

“I recommend that nursing education programs, in addition to focusing on student success strategies and resources, focus on faculty success, strategies and resources,” Letourneau said.

Menon said USF has been working on that by hiring more adjunct faculty. As of spring 2024, the nursing college employs nearly 300 faculty and staff.

“I think in the past, for us anyway, we had the separation between those nurses at work and clinical settings and then we have our academic faculty,” Menon said. “And what we're trying to do is really blend that more by really encouraging our expert clinicians out in the community to consider part-time academic roles.

“We’re bringing more of them in as adjunct faculty and making it worth their while to do that.”

Letourneau added that efforts such as hiring faculty, state-led program funding and helping nursing students from a community aspect can contribute to the state slowly improving NCLEX rates.

“We need RN’s, and one strategy to fill those vacancies is to make sure we have a robust pipeline into that workforce,” she said.