First Advisor

Records, Kathryn A.

First Committee Member

Henry, Melissa L.

Second Committee Member

Pool, Natalie M.

Third Committee Member

Weinrich, Melissa

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2025

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Nursing, Nursing Student Work

Abstract

Nursing students’ success in didactic courses generally depends on test scores. Students who fail to achieve a designated score might fail the test and/or the course. Test remediation is an intervention that could be implemented in response to a student’s failure. The intent of test remediation is to improve the student’s success on future exams and maximize the likelihood of progression. While remediation for success on the National Council Licensure Examination, standardized exams, and for the achievement of clinical skills were well documented, little research was found on test remediation for individual course exams. The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of test remediation by undergraduate nursing faculty. This qualitative descriptive study was guided by King’s theory of goal attainment. The follow research questions guided this study:

Q1 How do nursing faculty remediate students who fail a course exam?

Q2 When students fail a test, how do faculty determine what is needed to help the student be successful?

Q3 How do faculty learn to remediate?

Twelve undergraduate nursing faculty were recruited through a Facebook educators group and after providing informed consent, they were interviewed for this study. In-depth interviews using open-ended questions were conducted, recorded, and transcribed by the researcher. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes. The following themes provided a glimpse into the experiences and perspectives of undergraduate nurse educators with iv test remediation: (a) faculty qualities, (b) varied process of remediation, (c) student barriers to success, (d) challenges to remediation, and (e) just winging it. The participants described the qualities needed by nurse educators and the varied process of test remediation. They also shared their unique processes of test remediation but there were common components. The findings (a) revealed challenges and barriers to remediation for faculty and students and the need to address these to be successful; (b) revealed the lack of graduate education training available for faculty on test remediation; and (c) provided insight into the faculty experience with remediation. There is a need for further research into test remediation, the development of evidence-based remediation strategies, and faculty education on test remediation.

Abstract Format

html

Keywords

nursing students; remediation; attrition; test remediation; exam remediation; test failure; course failure

Places

Greeley, Colorado

Extent

132 pages

Local Identifiers

Haynes_unco_0161D_11344.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

Digital Origin

Born digital

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