Proposed New Policy & Call for Public Comments

Systems of assessment, including testing, are an inherent aspect of the educational environment and serve to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including (but not limited to) learners/students, faculty/programs of nursing, regulatory bodies, and patients/healthcare systems. Assessments may be formal or informal, formative or summative, single or multi-modal, and/or high or low stakes. Overall, systems of assessment are used to evaluate and stimulate learning, to evaluate the outcomes of an educational program, and to demonstrate accountability for making sound decisions in areas such as student progression and meeting graduation requirements.

In 2023, the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing’s (ACEN) Board of Commissioners published a position statement on one aspect of systems of assessment, which is high-stakes testing. The ACEN position statement notes that high-stakes testing is not an educational best practice and should not replace evaluation methods specific to a program’s curriculum (ACEN, 2023 and 2024). An addendum to the position statement was released in 2024 to further clarify the ACEN’s stance on high-stakes testing.

It is critical that nursing programs evaluate their systems of assessment and ensure that their systems demonstrate the following:

• reflect fair testing guidelines.
• demonstrate a positive testing culture that promotes the value of assessment.
• include testing policies and procedures that are accessible, transparent, and consistently administered.
• encourage identification of learning gaps and directs learners to remediation resources.
• prepare learners for future examinations.
• provide opportunities for learners to have frequent practice in assessments.
• provide data that can be used for analysis

The ACEN will review a program’s use of high-stakes testing in accordance with the ACEN Glossary definition. Programs are expected to demonstrate how their systems of assessment comply with best practices and how they are aligned to promote student success.
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Best practices include the following:

• assessments that are aligned with the curriculum, provide actionable feedback, and provide an opportunity and resources for learners to remediate if necessary.
• frequent and multi-modal formative assessments that provide learners and faculty with feedback.
• opportunity for learners to practice assessments under testing conditions.
• policies and procedures (e.g., academic progression) that clarify the intended use and frequency of standardized tests.
• opportunities for faculty to review aggregate assessment data that may be used to evaluate curriculum changes.

Programs using high-stakes testing, as defined by the ACEN, to determine academic progression or graduation will be cited as non-compliant with this policy and non-compliant with Standard 3, Criterion 3.2.

Policy History:
‍Developed September 2025

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