The data reveals that 95.15 percent of AC’s Associate Degree of Nursing (ADN) graduates from October 2015 to September 2016 passed the national licensure exam on their initial attempt.

It’s an exemplary success rate – seventh-best among the state’s 69 ADN programs and seventeenth-best among all 109 RN programs in Texas (ADN programs as well as those offering bachelor’s degrees in nursing).

The national average for all RN programs is 84.30 percent.

The licensure exam is known as the NCLEX, and first-time pass rates are significant because the Texas Board of Nursing requires programs to achieve a minimum 80-percent first-time annual pass rate to maintain Full Approval status.

Additionally, the Board extends commendations to programs in which at least 90 percent of candidates pass the NCLEX on their first attempt.

AC expects to receive its commendation early in 2017.

It is a repeat performance of excellence for AC’s ADN Program, which received a Board commendation last year after posting a 94.78-percent first-time pass rate on the NCLEX.

“We, along with our students, have worked hard to meet and exceed state and national benchmarks,” Lyndi Shadbolt, director of the Associate Degree Nursing Program, said. “I am so proud of everyone whose efforts have once again placed us among the top programs in the state for NCLEX-RN pass rates.”