The assessment of professional program graduates at Midlands Technical College (MTC) on licensing and certification exams allows for a comparison of MTC graduate performance on licensure examinations to those graduates across the state of South Carolina and across the nation. The administration at MTC uses the results of the examinations to ascertain the professional competence with regard to skills of MTC graduates who enter the job market and to identify areas for possible revision of the MTC curriculum.

Midlands Technical College has ten curriculum programs involved with licensing and certification exams. They are: Associate Degree Nursing, Practical Nursing, Dental Assisting, Dental Hygiene, Health Information Management, Medical Laboratory Technology, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Care, and Surgical Technology.

The standard established by the college for professional program graduates involved with licensing or certification is that MTC graduates will meet or exceed state and/or national pass rates. Department chairs and the appropriate faculty members review exam results and utilize summary profiles (when available) to identify problem areas and make curriculum revisions to enhance graduate performance.

The 1998-1999 action plan contained the following two objectives:

For the academic year 1998-1999, both of the objectives were achieved. The process of monitoring graduates’ performance allowed the appropriate department chairs and respective faculty members the opportunity to reach beyond local measures and to use state and/or national-level data for assessment. As a result of this assessment process, changes in the curriculum to address theoretical knowledge and practical application of the material were considered by both the Nursing and Health Sciences department chairs and faculty members.

The 1999-2000 action plan contains two objectives:

Satisfactory performance on licensing and certification examinations is required by law for graduates to work in the following four health science and nursing fields: registered nursing (ADN), practical nursing (PN), dental hygiene, and respiratory care. Satisfactory performance on licensure and certification examinations is not required by law in the following six health science and nursing fields: dental assisting, medical laboratory technology, health information management, nuclear medicine technology, radiologic technology, and surgical technology. However, these six fields have employer-specific requirements as to licensure and certification. Some of the ten programs must meet a licensing and/or certification requirement of its graduates to obtain or retain accreditation. Even when satisfactory performance on licensing and certification examinations is not required by law and/or required for the purpose of accreditation, MTC program faculty encourage their graduates to take the examinations as an indicator of individual and MTC program effectiveness.

The examinations are typically administered to graduates within one year after graduation. MTC program faculty review licensure and certification examination results to note individual program graduates' success and to compare graduates' success to other graduates in the state and the nation. In addition, MTC program faculty conduct an analysis of graduates’ summary profiles (when available) to identify potential strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum as a framework to make appropriate curriculum revisions.

The 1998-1999 assessment study of licensure and certification examinations analyzed data from thirteen examinations in ten professional programs. The Dental Hygiene students are required, by law, to take both the state and national examinations for practice. The Nuclear Medicine Technology students have the option to take one of two possible examinations that are approved for certification and subsequent practice. And, the Respiratory Care students experience a multi-level examination process, as they progress through the levels of that particular program.

The data set used in the assessment study for 1998-1999 consisted of the following items:

The 1998-1999 assessment process methodology of licensure and certification examinations was as follows.

Midlands Technical College evaluated and reported on the institutional effectiveness component of professional program graduates’ performance on licensing and certification examinations in July, 1998. The 1998-1999 action plan had two objectives. Each objective and its achievement status are as follows.

NOTE: The strong emphasis today on the protection of individuals’ privacy has caused many licensing and certification agencies not to provide the data contained in this report to external agencies. As the emphasis on confidentiality appears to be strengthening, this lack of information also is expected to continue. Thus, the non-provision of data from some accrediting agencies on graduate performance will continue to hinder the collection of the data needed to completed this report and the identification by faculty of areas for possible revision of the curriculum.

The 1999-2000 action plan for assessment of performance of professional program graduates on licensing and certification examinations consists of the following two objectives.