Date of Graduation

1994

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the programs in terms of faculty's and chairs' perceptions of organizational climate and to determine the potential relationships between organizational climate and student success, i.e., educational outcomes on the BSN Exit Exams. This was done for baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in the 10 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (SSHE) schools in 1992. The Organizational Climate Index (OCI-375SF) was used to measure climate. Student success by programs was measured by the Mean Percent Correct z-equivalent (MPC-z) on the BSN Exit Exams. These included the NLN BSN Exam, Mosby AssessTest, NLN DRT, and a Dept. Comp. The population included 101 full-time nursing faculty and 10 chairs. The sample consisted of the 10 schools of nursing, with 10 chairs and 64 faculty responding. Eight research questions were analyzed to determine whether a relationship existed between the eight OCI variables and student success on the BSN Exit Exams. One research question examined the existence of relationships among the eight OCI variables. Another six research questions involved the existence of relationships between the Institutional Profile variables (the percent of admissions, rejections, and graduates, faculty years of experience, and percent of classroom and clinical time) and student success on the BSN Exit Exams. All research questions were analyzed using Pearson Correlations. None of the OCI variables were found to be a good predictor of student success. However, the highest r-values were.859 and.801, respectively, for the Intellectual Climate, and Orderliness variables. these produces p-values less than.05. Thus, these two OCI variables were noted as possible candidates for further study. It was found that most all of the six first order OCI scores were significantly related to each other. Finally, it was concluded that none of the Institutional Profile variables were good predictors of student success on the BSN Exit Exams. The correlations involving the percent of admissions and class time did produce r-values of.727 and.606, respectively. However, these did not produce p-values less than.05. Thus, these two variables were noted as candidates for further study.

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