Licensure and Certification Exam Performance

Common Core Performance Indicator

The percentage of successful completers on licensure and certification examinations.

Performance Improvement Goal

For the System, graduates taking licensure or certification examinations will maintain or exceed a 75% pass rate.

Data Analysis

A number of degree and certificate programs offered by the Connecticut Community Colleges require that students pass state or national licensure examinations in order to practice in the field. The table below includes all programs in the system that require licensure or certification for which licensure data is collected. Five-year trends are provided.

Overall, graduates have secured impressive pass rates on licensure or certification examinations. For example in nursing the pass rate is 93% and for all other allied health combined the pass rate is 95%.

That said, not all students pass and some of the seemingly large fluctuations in pass rates exist for reasons beyond a college’s control. In some cases such fluctuation is a function of sample size. In the Dietetic Technology area for example, only two people sat for the exam and therefore the one failure brings down the pass rate to 50%. In some cases the fluctuation is an artifact of the exam report as generated by the licensing authority. The report may include results for students who graduated one year or twenty years ago.

Source: Examining Boards and CCC Office of Planning, Research and Assessment

¹No data available on the number of graduates sitting for exam prior to 2002.

²No data on the number of graduates sitting for exam prior to 2003.