Ethnicity, academic skills and nursing student achievement.

In 1982, Florida legislation mandated the use of the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) to measure student achievement in college-level communication and computation skills. The exam is currently used in Florida's schools of higher education as a requirement for admittance to the junior year. This article addresses the CLAST as a predictor variable of academic success for students (N = 55) seeking a baccalaureate degree in nursing and for their ability to pass the examination for registered nurse licensure on their first attempt. The study also looks at other factors such as student grade point averages, ethnicity, foreign birth, and age to determine their importance, if any, in the success rate of nursing students and graduates. Results of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Index showed that CLAST scores do correlate positively with licensure exam scores, as does age. Ethnicity and sex did not reveal any correlations, which may have been due to the small sample size.