A Standardized Rubric for Evaluating NCLEX Items: Traditional and Clinical Judgment Item Formats

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Assessment and Evaluation

Background:

• High-quality National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) items are crucial for nursing licensure preparation.
• Nurse educators currently lack standardized tools to evaluate traditional and clinical judgment item formats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a structured evaluation framework for NCLEX items.
• To address concerns regarding item quality in content, construction, and cognitive demand.

Main Methods:

• The NCLEX Item Evaluation Rubric (NIER) was developed using an iterative process based on established item writing literature.
• A proof-of-concept involved 3 raters evaluating AI-generated bowtie items with the NIER.

Main Results:

• The NIER effectively differentiated item quality across 10 domains, identifying specific strengths and weaknesses.
• Preliminary interrater exact agreement was 57%, with 81% of ratings within 2 scoring points.

Conclusions:

• The NIER offers a practical and standardized framework for nurse educators to evaluate NCLEX items.
• This rubric aids in ensuring examination validity and accurate assessment of student abilities.