RALEIGH, N.C. (July 22, 2009) - For the first time ever, Wake Technical Community College exceeded all eight of the benchmarks for success the North Carolina Community College System sets for the state’s 58 community colleges. Wake Tech was among 11 colleges that earned the much-sought-after distinction for “Exceptional Institutional Performance” for the 2008-2009 academic year. The benchmarks, called “Critical Success Factors,” demonstrate student success in college readiness, workforce preparedness, and as college transfers.

“We’re proud to join these distinguished ranks,” says Dr. Stephen Scott, president of Wake Tech. “The recognition affirms the high standards we have established for Wake Tech, and how hard we work to uphold them. These measures help us provide the community with a more objective picture of what we’re striving to do.”

For more than 20 years, the NC Community College System has scrutinized and measured community colleges’ performance in eight core areas, including student retention and graduation, licensure passing rates, business/industry satisfaction with graduates, progress of basic skills students, and performance of students who transfer to four-year institutions.

Wake Tech met two additional success measures in order to receive the “Exceptional Institutional Performance” rating:

1. Wake Tech students who transferred into the UNC System performed as well or better than students who started college at the four-year institutions.

2. Wake Tech students not only passed licensure and certification exams at an overall rate exceeding the state standard, but also passed at a rate of at least 70% in each of the individual fields, including law enforcement, dental hygiene, emergency medical services, nursing, and radiography. In dental hygiene, the passing rate for Wake Tech students was 100%!

“This is indeed a proud day for Wake Tech,” says Bryan Ryan, Wake Tech’s vice president of curriculum education. “We’ve come close to meeting all the benchmarks before, but this success is really a testament to the dedication of Wake Tech staff and faculty, and the hard work of our students!”

Excellence can mean more than bragging rights, if the state budget permits. Performance-based funding is usually provided to colleges according to the number of performance measures they meet. A rating of “exceptional” can bring even more financial support - but, not surprisingly, not this year. For now community colleges will have to be content with the satisfaction of a job well done.