ALBANY, GA – Albany Technical College’s Associate of Science (ASN) in Nursing (RN) program was recently ranked number three by a study conducted by RegisteredNursing.org. The ranking was based on the student pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).
The NCLEX-RN exam is used by all state boards of nursing across the United States to help assess a student’s competency and is required for licensure. Also, many state boards of nursing use the total, overall NCLEX-RN pass rate for a school as one of the main ways to approve a school’s ability to provide a nursing education in the state. The pass rates are one of the best ways to determine a nursing program’s student preparedness.
Obtaining five years of information from 2013 to 2017, RegisteredNursing.org’s methodology began with collecting NCLEX-RN exam pass rates for all RN programs (ADN, BSN, Direct-Entry MSN) state-by-state through several methods, including making a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Once the data was obtained, they filtered out the programs with the following characteristics:
- Programs that have closed or will be closing at the time of data collecting
- Programs with no pass rate data available for the previous one or two years, depending on the state and number of years of data available
- Programs with only one year of pass rates
In the state of Georgia, 51 schools were analyzed and Albany Technical College ranked third. Other technical colleges within the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) ranked at the top of the list included: Southeastern Technical College at number one; Wiregrass Georgia Technical College at number four; Chattahoochee Technical College at number six; Gwinnett Technical College at number nine; and Columbus Technical College at number 10.
Albany Tech started its RN program in 2013 with just 24 students in the first cohort and graduated the first class in 2015 with 100 percent pass rate on the NCLEX-RN. With 56 students currently enrolled in the program, this shows a substantial increase in enrollment since the program’s beginning in 2013. With added faculty, the program has been able to expand and add more students to the roster, which has doubled the program’s enrollment numbers since it began.
“To be ranked as the number three Nursing program in the state of Georgia is truly an honor,” said Dr. Latrona Lanier, Chair of the ASN Program at Albany Tech. “We are aware that earning a distinction of this magnitude stems from hard work and dedication on the part of our faculty and administration, as well as the desire of our students to become a healthcare professional.”
Lanier attributes this achievement to the expert and compassionate nursing faculty at Albany Tech, who are focused on ensuring students in the program succeed. “Our success comes from a great faculty motivating students who are eager to learn,” she commented.
“We provide individualized student learning in our program and it is this attention to detail that earned our nursing program the distinguished honor of being ranked on this list,” Lanier said. “We are all thrilled to have such an honor bestowed upon our program.”
Dr. Anthony Parker, President of Albany Technical College, added “Given the critical shortage of nurses in our region, state, and nation, this ranking validates the good work Albany Tech is doing in this area. Graduating qualified healthcare professionals and having them go to work here is critical to the health and economic vitality of our community. We have to continue to be responsive to community needs so that we carry out our mission to prepare individuals to join the region’s workforce.”
For more information about the ASN program, contact Dr. Latrona Lanier at 229.430.3698 or email llanier@albanytech.edu.
RegisteredNursing.org RN program ranking link: https://www.registerednursing.org/state/georgia/#adn-programs-in-georgia
About Albany Technical College
A public postsecondary institution of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), Albany Technical College provides technical education and training support for the evolving workforce needs of Southwest Georgia through traditional and online classroom settings. Albany Tech is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC). For more information about Albany Tech, go to www.albanytech.edu or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AlbanyTech or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AlbanyTech. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel by visiting www.youtube.com/albanytech1 .
About RegisteredNursing.org
RegisteredNursing.org is comprised of registered nurses who care deeply about the profession and provide the resources future nurses need to succeed. Their mission is to promote excellence in nursing through enabling future nurses with the tools they need to succeed. They help to bring those interested in nursing from the research phase to enrollment, to landing that first RN job and beyond. For more information about RegisteredNursing.org, visit them at RegisteredNursing.org.