Durham, N.C. – Durham Technical Community College’s Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program and the Licensed Practical Nursing (PN) program posted high passing rates on the 2008 National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). The results were recently released by the State Board of Community Colleges. The pass rate for Durham Tech's ADN program for the 2008 NCLEX was 95 percent. The pass rate for the college's PN program was 100 percent.

Statewide, the passing rate of nurses graduating from a North Carolina community college surpassed both the state and national average. “We are pleased with the great work of our graduates and our colleges, but these high passing rates also mean a lot for North Carolina. Nine out of every 10 North Carolina community college nursing graduates work right here in our state,” said Dr. Scott Ralls, N.C. Community Colleges president. The state’s community colleges prepare graduates to qualify to sit for both licensure exams for nurses, the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN) and the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).

All N.C. community colleges’ PN programs reported individual passing rates at 80 percent or above. Of the 32 North Carolina community college PN programs reporting scores, 12 posted a perfect passing rate of 100 percent for 2008, resulting in an overall passing rate of 94 percent for the N.C. Community College System. That is 1 percent higher than the state average and 7 percent higher than the national average.  

Of the 48 N. C. community colleges' registered nursing (RN) programs reporting scores for the RN examination, 11 reported a passing rate of 100 percent for 2008 compared to 2 programs in 2007. Over all, the average passing rate was 89.7 percent, which is .7 percent higher than the state average and 2.7 percent higher than the national average.

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