ASSP - Academic Success Strategies Program

Background

Wilson-Banks and Associates is a Health and Educational Consulting Company created in 2001.

It was created when Professor Margaret Wilson-Banks realized that the skills she taught in the Gen-1020 course, College Survival Skills for Nursing Students, could be expanded upon and developed into a program to help healthcare facilities meet their needs for nurses and other allied healthcare workers locally and nationally.

Margaret Wilson-Banks, a Professor of Nursing in an Associate Degree RN Program, always had concerns with the attrition rate of nursing students. This rate of 30-35% was large yet consistent with other RN nursing programs’ attrition rates. Professor Wilson-Banks felt that one reason for the high attrition rates was that the typical older nursing student had poor academic skills and was challenged with work and family life demands. She developed a study method tailored for nursing students - “Steps to Success Study Method”. This study method became the cornerstone of a course called the Gen-1020 - College Survival Strategies for Nursing Students.

A study done to compare the effects of attrition and success of nursing students who took the GS 1020 College Survival Strategies for Nursing Students showed that 73% of students who failed and re-entered the program were still in the program, had a degree pending or had graduated. This compared to only a 35% success rate for those who did not take the course after failing once, a difference of more than 38%.5 The program is much more than a class and has various components that will dramatically increase the success rates of students. Professor Wilson-Banks’ approach is a complete program, not just a series of classes.

Upon reflection, Professor Banks realized that the academic strategies she developed and taught might be incorporated into a program that would help healthcare facilities meet their needs for more RN’s and be a vital part of a long-term solution to a continuing shortage of RN’s and other allied healthcare positions. Not only would this approach help meet the employers’ need for nurses, but it would have a profound effect community-wide by raising the educational and skills levels of the community.