Florida Nursing Programs Below the NCLEX Benchmark — 2025 Pass Rates

Eighty-two Florida nursing programs finished below the statutory benchmark in 2025

Florida sets a legal floor for nursing program performance, and a great many programs are under it. This page sets out the benchmark, how it is calculated, which programs fell below it in 2025, and — the part that matters if you have been dismissed — what a failing program’s own numbers have to do with your case.

Counting only programs with at least ten first-time candidates, 82 Florida programs finished below their statutory benchmark in 2025: 44 associate-degree RN, 8 baccalaureate RN, and 30 practical nursing. That is not a fringe of storefront schools. It includes some of the largest public colleges in the state.

The benchmark, and how it is actually calculated

Fla. Stat. section 464.019(5)(a)1 requires a program’s first-time NCLEX passage rate to be “not more than 10 percentage points lower than the average passage rate during the same calendar year for graduates of comparable degree programs who are United States educated, first-time test takers.”

So the floor is not a fixed number. It moves with the national average each year, and it is calculated separately for each program type. Using the National Council of State Boards of Nursing figures for calendar 2025, the benchmarks were:

For context on the scale of the problem: Florida’s own 2025 associate-degree cohort passed at 80.46% against a national 86.05%, so the state as a whole lags by more than five points at that level. Florida RN overall was 81.82% across 17,402 candidates.

The high-volume programs below the benchmark

These matter most, because this is where most Florida nursing students actually are. Every rate below is a 2025 first-time passage rate, with the number of first-time candidates alongside it.

Keiser University fell below the benchmark at nine separate campuses in 2025. On the associate side: Miami 64.52%, Sarasota 67.74%, Pembroke Pines 69.23%, West Palm Beach 73.33%, Lakeland 73.63%, Naples 75.00%, Tampa 75.61%, Fort Myers 75.86%. On the baccalaureate side: Fort Lauderdale 70.59%, Miami 75.00%, Tampa 77.14%.

The lowest associate-degree pass rates in the state

On the practical nursing side the lowest rates were lower still: Ideal Professional Institute at 0% across 17 candidates, Myrielle College of Nursing 15.38%, Donatello School of Nursing 23.53% across 34, Grace School of Nursing 30.00%, Hajgden International College 30.43%, iTech Glades 30.77%, Abundant Life Nursing School 33.33%, Naples Nursing Academy 42.11%, Educare Envision 45.00%, Medical Institute of Palm Beach 57.58% across 66, and Gwinnett Institute 68.93% across 103.

Below the benchmark is not the same as on probation — and that distinction is the honest one

Two limits on the figures above, stated plainly, because pages that blur this are misleading students.

Probation requires two consecutive years. Section 464.019(5)(a)2 is triggered only where a program misses the benchmark “for 2 consecutive calendar years.” The table above identifies single-year failures for 2025. Establishing the two-year overlap requires the corresponding 2024 annual report, which is not currently posted where the 2025 report is; it is obtainable by public-records request. So no program is described here as on probation.

The Board does not publish a probation list. Its education page carries the quarterly NCLEX reports but no accountability, probation, or termination roster. Programs actually on probation have to be identified from board meeting minutes and orders. Anyone who tells you a given school “is on probation” from a website listing is guessing.

The disclosure duty, which is the sharpest tool on this page

Section 464.019(5)(c) requires a program on probation to “disclose its probationary status in writing to the program’s students and applicants,” including “an explanation of the implications.”

That is a statutory duty with a specific addressee and a specific form. Where a student enrolled, or continued and paid tuition, while a program was on probation and was never given that written notice, the failure to give it is an independent misrepresentation theory grounded in a statute rather than in a general fraud allegation. It is considerably cleaner than arguing a school oversold itself, because the obligation and its content are written down.

Practically, that makes two questions worth asking in writing at the start of any Florida nursing dismissal: was this program on probation at any point during my enrollment, and if so, when and how was I notified in writing.

An approved program is not an inspected program

Worth knowing, in the Board’s own words: its education page states that “the Board is not authorized to conduct site visits, and oversight of approved nursing education program quality measures is limited.”

So Board approval means a program met paper requirements and reports its numbers. It does not mean anyone has visited, observed instruction, or examined how clinical placements are actually run. Students reasonably read “state-approved” as a quality assurance and it is not one, and that gap matters when the dispute is about whether a program delivered the clinical hours, supervision, or remediation it promised.

What a failing pass rate has to do with your dismissal

This is the part with practical consequence, and it needs stating carefully.

A program measured against a statutory benchmark, with loss of approval as the endpoint, has an institutional interest in the composition of the cohort that sits the exam. First-time passage rate is a ratio, and it can be improved either by teaching better or by graduating fewer of the students judged least likely to pass. The second route is faster.

That incentive is not itself unlawful, and no page can tell you it explains any particular dismissal. What it does is justify a specific line of inquiry that is otherwise easy to dismiss as a student’s hurt feelings. Where a program under benchmark pressure removes a student late in the sequence, the questions worth pressing on the documents are these. Did the program follow its own published progression rules, or reach ahead of them. Was a benchmark examination or standardized test score treated as dispositive when the published policy does not make it so. Was a withdrawal recharacterised as a failure to trigger a two-strike rule. Was promised remediation actually offered on the terms the handbook states. Were accommodations requested and delivered.

Those are documentary questions with documentary answers, and the program’s own published pass rate is legitimate context for asking them.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

• Establishing whether your program was under benchmark, and whether it was on probation during your enrollment
• Pursuing the section 464.019(5)(c) written-disclosure duty where a probationary program never gave notice
• Making a public-records request for the annual accountability reports and board orders the website does not post
• Testing whether a standardized test score was treated as dispositive when the published policy does not make it so
• Challenging a withdrawal recharacterised as a course failure to trigger a two-strike dismissal
• Enforcing remediation terms the handbook offered but the program did not deliver
• Building Section 504 and ADA claims where accommodations were delayed, diluted or refused
• Handling nursing school dismissal, clinical removal, and SAP appeals

Where to go next

The Florida nursing programs page covers how these cases run, and the Florida schools index has a page per institution built on that school’s own conduct code and academic-standing policy. If your program is at a public college, Florida student defense explains the Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) rights that apply to you and not to students at private schools — including a legal representative who may question witnesses.

Rates are 2025 first-time passage rates for United States-educated candidates as reported to the Board of Nursing, limited to programs with at least ten first-time candidates, with benchmarks computed from NCSBN calendar-2025 national averages under the formula in section 464.019(5)(a)1. Figures are reported as published and are a snapshot of one calendar year; a single year below benchmark is not probation. Confirm current figures and any program’s current approval status with the Board before relying on them.

Common questions about Florida nursing program pass rate cases

What is the Florida NCLEX benchmark for nursing programs?

Fla. Stat. 464.019(5)(a)1 requires a first-time passage rate no more than 10 percentage points below the national average for comparable programs that year. For 2025 that meant 76.05% for associate-degree RN, 77.59% for baccalaureate RN, 73.37% for diploma RN and 77.17% for practical nursing.

How many Florida programs were below it?

82 in 2025, counting only programs with at least ten first-time candidates: 44 associate-degree RN, 8 baccalaureate RN and 30 practical nursing. Several are large public colleges, not just small private schools.

Does below the benchmark mean the program is on probation?

No, and the distinction matters. Section 464.019(5)(a)2 requires two consecutive years below benchmark. These are single-year 2025 figures. The Board also publishes no probation roster, so probationary status has to be established from the Department of Health’s licensing portal, or from board minutes and orders.

My school was on probation and never told me. Does that matter?

It may matter a great deal. Section 464.019(5)(c) requires a program on probation to disclose that status in writing to students and applicants, with an explanation of the implications. A failure to give that notice is a misrepresentation theory grounded in the statute itself rather than in a general fraud claim.

Does a bad pass rate mean my dismissal was unfair?

Not on its own, and no page can tell you that. What it does is justify examining the documents closely, because a program measured on first-time passage rates has an interest in who sits the exam. The questions are whether the published progression rules were followed, whether a test score was treated as dispositive when the policy does not say it is, and whether a withdrawal was recharacterised as a failure.

Does state approval mean the program was inspected?

No. The Board’s own education page states that it is not authorized to conduct site visits and that oversight of program quality measures is limited. Approval means paper requirements were met and numbers were reported, not that anyone observed the teaching or the clinical placements.

Where can I find my own program’s rate?

The Board of Nursing publishes quarterly and annual NCLEX passage reports on its education pages. Older annual reports are not always posted, but they are obtainable by public-records request, which is often necessary to establish two consecutive years below benchmark.