An Evidence-Based Approach to Improving Nursing Student Retention Without Additional Demands on Faculty 

As healthcare economists urge colleges and communities to do more to fill the nursing pipeline, this mission faces a formidable stumbling block. It’s academic underpreparedness, and it’s preventing thousands of potential nurses from reaching the patients who need them.

This article examines the academic readiness gap that is causing high rates of first-year attrition — a trend that harms program viability and faculty morale. It also identifies the factors influencing academic readiness and highlights an evidence-based approach that improves nursing student retention, reduces remediation demands on faculty, and lays the foundation for nursing student success.

Academic Preparedness Impacts Nursing Education & the Nursing Pipeline  

The challenge of academic underpreparedness in general is not new, but it is taking on particular urgency in nursing programs as they strive to meet the demand for more nurses in the workforce. Every nursing student who does not progress through a program equals lost revenue for academic institutions and a lost opportunity to fill a vital nursing vacancy.

College readiness has been declining for consecutive years, but recent results show that even fewer graduating seniors are adequately prepared for the subject areas that are key to nursing student success.^1-5 Testing data from ACT show that in 2024, only 30% of graduating seniors met 3 or 4 of the standard college readiness benchmarks for English, reading, math and science.³

But the concern doesn’t end there. In addition to being inadequately prepared for the academic demands of a nursing program, many students aren’t ready for the emotional and psychological demands of college in general.

A 2024 insight paper titled “The Student Readiness Crisis. A Mandate for Change in Education and the Workforce” emphasized the close interrelation of academic skills and emotional readiness when it comes to student success.⁶ The paper was published by EAB, an education services and technology firm.

“Equally important [to academic readiness] is socio-emotional readiness for college, which involves managing emotions, building and maintaining relationships, and navigating the social and emotional challenges of the college environment,” the report states. “Mastery of both areas is not just beneficial, but necessary.”

This conclusion is certainly not new to nurse educators. But in the complex world of academia, even widespread recognition doesn’t always produce quick action. To comprehensively address the academic readiness gap, nurse educator teaching strategies must address its most common contributors.  

Factors That Lead to High First-Year Attrition in Nursing Programs

A systemic literature review published in 2025⁷ examined the most commonly reported causes of high nursing student attrition rates and identified 4 prominent themes.

1. Academic factors: inadequate study, reading, and organizational skills, and a poor academic foundation overall
2. Institutional and social factors: limited support from family, faculty or mentors; lack of social well-being
3. Personal factors: difficulty managing family responsibilities; low self-esteem; poor coping skills; psychological distress
4. Economic factors: struggles to meet living expenses, pay tuition, purchase books.

Based on their review of published data, the researchers concluded that “nursing education must evolve — not only through curricular reform but also through the creation of supportive, proactive environments that promote nursing student success, reduce attrition, and enhance well-being from enrollment through to graduation.”⁷

The EAB insight paper on student readiness reached a similar conclusion — that educational institutions must identify students with weaknesses and assist them.⁶

“Offering a menu of support isn’t enough — both K-12 and higher education institutions need to proactively identify students who are experiencing readiness gaps and connect them with tailored, targeted supports that speak to their specific needs,” the authors wrote. “Without thoughtful intervention, students will continue to struggle with basic skills, causing more students to opt out of higher education and not reach their career goals.”

The Solution: Launching an Approach to Readiness That Meets All Key Needs

To address the academic readiness crisis, nursing programs need the resources to provide support for nursing students and address the most significant student needs in a direct way. They require a structured, evidence-based solution. Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness® meets this need uniquely and effectively.

Launch is a proactive learning program that closes the academic readiness gap at the start of a nursing program — increasing the likelihood that students will progress through the curriculum and graduate. It is the only academic preparedness resource available directly to institutions.

Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness is built around the real-world needs of nursing students and the faculty who support them. It focuses on the foundational skills that matter most, and it is delivered in a flexible online 6-week format that students can complete at their own pace.

Importantly, this readiness program does not add to faculty responsibilities. Every student is paired with an ATI educator who provides personalized 1:1 guidance from start to finish. Throughout the 6 weeks, faculty see detailed data on each student’s progression through Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness. This provides instructors with a clear view of what each student needs to be successful in the nursing program.

“I think the most important thing about Launch is that it sets students up for success, regardless of what their individual issues might be,” said Rhoberta Haley, PhD, RN, dean and professor at Pacific Lutheran University School of Nursing. “It identifies the areas where students need growth so that we can address them right away. Waiting never helps.”

Dr. Haley said she has introduced Launch at two programs where she has served as dean (Pacific Lutheran and Chaminade University). During a webinar panel discussion about academic readiness hosted by ATI, she cited five ways Launch has helped faculty and students at these institutions:

1. It assists in recruitment by reassuring potential students that they will receive academic support.
2. It introduces students to ATI, increasing their comfort with learning and assessment resources they will use throughout the program.
3. It improves nursing student retention by building the skills necessary for academic progress and success.
4. It fine-tunes advising and tutoring approaches by providing detailed data about student weaknesses.
5. It builds the confidence students need to succeed in the program and on NCLEX.

Launch Helps Students Start Strong & Stay Strong

The benefits detailed by Dr. Haley are experienced at institutions throughout the U.S. Since ATI introduced Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness in fall 2023, hundreds of programs have reported higher retention of first-year students and improved NCLEX pass rates. A few highlights:

• Since implementing Launch, the PN program at Lansdale School of Business has retained more students, quickly improved scores in nursing fundamentals and anatomy & physiology courses, and achieved NCLEX pass rates of 95% and higher.
• At Lone Star College-North Harris, the ADN program decreased first-year attrition by 16% in the first year of Launch use — and an additional 8% in the second year.
• Meridian Community College increased first-year retention in its ADN program by 9% — and observed significantly improved time management skills and confidence levels in students — within 12 months of requiring Launch.
• In the BSN program at Saint Xavier University, student confidence and engagement, as well as anatomy and physiology scores, have increased significantly since Launch was incorporated into an orientation at the start of the nursing curriculum.

The results experienced by these four programs demonstrate that the impact of Launch is significant at all levels of prelicensure nursing education. Research also has documented the benefits of Launch at PN, ADN and BSN levels.

Research Proves That Launch Improves Academic Performance in PN, ADN & BSN Programs

In a study published in Teaching and Learning in Nursing in 2025, researchers identified statistically significant improvements in academic performance in nursing programs that implemented Launch.⁸ The analysis encompassed more than 1,300 nursing students across eight colleges.

“Launch determines what each student needs and provides a customized approach to meeting those needs,” said Beth Cusatis Phillips, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, the lead investigator for the study.

She added that the personalized nature of this approach to student readiness meets a pressing need. “Understanding and providing what students need to be successful during nursing school is imperative for nursing and, ultimately, healthcare in general,” she said.

Dr. Phillips, a longtime nurse educator who is now the strategic nursing advisor and senior manager of content strategy for ATI, said the academic gains documented in the study and experienced by ATI partner institutions translate into the real-world outcomes nursing programs care about:

• better student retention
• reduced remediation demands on faculty
• higher NCLEX pass rates
• more confident, capable nurses entering the workforce.

In addition to facilitating these important student and program outcomes, Launch provides benefits for faculty by reducing remediation demands while keeping them apprised of each student’s progress. It provides support for nursing students and can enhance nurse educator teaching strategies. 

Launch Reduces Remediation Demands on Faculty

Because Launch pairs incoming students with an ATI Educator who keep them on track until they complete all 6 modules, faculty members spend much less time remediating foundational knowledge and skills and have more time to focus on teaching the actual curriculum.

The ATI Educator communicates directly with faculty about each student’s progress in Launch, and the faculty dashboard provides detailed information on student performance in the Launch learning modules and assessments.

Faculty members describe the insights provided by the ATI Educator as instrumental to their teaching and noted that the observations align with their classroom observations.

“I can tell who's really working through the Launch modules,” said Debra Clark, BSN, RN, a nursing instructor in the Lansdale School of Business LPN program. “What I see in the classroom and what the coaches are telling me are very similar. If I see a student struggling, I’ll look back at the Launch sessions and it gives me a better idea of what’s going on with them.”

Launching More Nurses Into Practice

For nursing programs, a research-backed academic readiness program customized to nursing student needs can help them achieve higher retention rates, better NCLEX pass rates, and more confident students. Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness is the evidence-based solution nursing programs need to close the readiness gap and build a resilient pipeline of future nurses.

“As faculty, we are all centered on the student,” Dr. Haley said. “We want every student to be successful in our program and to sail right through and be launched into practice.”

With Launch: Nursing Academic Readiness, this outcome is within reach. Click here to learn more.

1. ACT Inc. Fewer High School Seniors Ready for College as ACT Scores Continue to Decline. https://leadershipblog.act.org/2023/10/act-scores-decline.html  
2. ACT Inc. The ACT Profile Report – National. Graduating Class 2023. https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/2023-National-ACT-Profile-Report.pdf
3. ACT Inc. The ACT Profile Report – National. Graduating Class 2024. https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/2024-act-national-graduating-class-profile-report.pdf
4. Chen G. Falling SAT Scores: Why Are Students Testing Lower This Year? Public School Review. 2025. https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/falling-sat-scores-why-are-students-testing-lower-this-year
5. Manno BV. Are High School Graduates Ready for College? 2024. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brunomanno/2024/05/28/are-high-school-graduates-ready-for-college/
6. EAB. The Student Readiness Crisis. A Mandate for Change in Education and the Workforce. 2024. https://chat.eab.com/The-Student-Readiness-Crisis-EAB
7. Sheikoleslami RL, Princeton DM, Hansen LIM, Kisa S, Goyal AR. Examining Factors Associated with Attrition, Strategies for Retention Among Undergraduate Nursing Students, and Identified Research Gaps: A Scoping Review. Nursing Reports. 2025;15(6):182. doi: 10.3390/nursrep15060182   
8. Phillips BC, Hodge K. Enhancing Student Retention in Nursing Education: Strategies and Interventions. Teaching and Learning in Nursing. 2025;20(3):248-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2025.02.018