Abstract
One of the recommendations of the landmark Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report was to increase the proportion of nurses with a bachelor of science in nursing or higher degree to 80% by 2020. In 2012, the American Organization of Nurse Executives was selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as the National Program Office for a new initiative-the Academic Progression in Nursing (APIN) program-with the goal of identifying and developing the most promising strategies for creating a more highly educated nursing workforce. This article discusses the findings of APIN's four-year project.