The FAMU School of Nursing (SON) has been placed on probation by the Florida Board of Nursing because of low first-time passage rates on the state boards for the past two years, the university announced Wednesday afternoon via FAMU Info. The probationary period is for two years.
In November 2020, the SON's accrediting agency, the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), sited the school for Standard 6, Citerion 6.2 stating that "there is a lack of evidence that the expected level of achievement for first-time test-takers during the same 12-month period on the licensure examination has been met."
ACEN, however, decided to grant the school a COVID-related two-year continuation of accreditation for "good cause", documents show.
Shelley Johnson, Ed.D., dean, who took over the leadership of the school last July 1, said the program will be reevaluated in January 2022 to determine if a second year of probation is warranted.
SON administrators have submitted a detailed plan of action to improve first-time passage rates for all graduates of the program.
The FAMU School of Nursing (SON) is the oldest continuing baccalaureate nursing program in the State of Florida and the oldest continuing baccalaureate nursing program in the United States at a historically black institution. Established in 1904 as a hospital-based program, it became the first baccalaureate nursing program in Florida in 1936.