Four of Barton Community College’s health-care programs showed a 100% pass rate on certification exams last year, Barton Community College’s dean of Workforce Training and Community Education, (WTCE) Dr. Kathy Kottas told the board of trustees recently. 

Kottas gave a monitoring report on Oct. 28 on END 2: Workplace Preparedness.

The college’s overarching policies, known as ENDs, are a list of eight strategic objectives or goals set by its board of trustees. According to the END 2 statement:

• Students will have the skills and knowledge required for successful entry into the workplace.

• Students will have the work ethics, discipline, and collaborative skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.

• Students will have the skills and knowledge necessary to maintain, advance, or change their employment or occupation.

Partnerships with outside businesses help ensure that programs stay up to date on their curriculum and are teaching what the workforce needs to be competitive and successful, Kottas said. Barton’s WTCE has 23 advisory boards with approximately 20 individuals each. All advisory boards meet at least twice a year.

“Working with our partners in the Workforce Division helps us know if we are on track,” Kottas said. “We visit with those folks almost on a daily basis in some programs.”

They look at the training students receive and the equipment students are training on. “Some of our instructors are still in the workforce,” she added.

Instruction reviews are completed every two years.

Certification Pass Rates

One of the top indicators of success is the Certification Pass Rates.

If a high percentage of students pass certification exams on the first attempt, that shows the programs are on the right track, Kottas said.

Barton has 11 health-care programs with certification tests: ADN/RN, LPN, CNA, CMA, MLT, EMT, AEMT, Paramedic, Dietary Manager, Medical Assistant (MA), and Pharmacy Technician.

The four programs with a 100% pass rate this past year were LNP, MLT, Pharmacy Tech and MA.

Students seeking the Licensed Practical Nursing certification have had a 100% pass rate in eight of the last nine years, Kottas said. The one student who did not pass the exam on the first attempt was successful on the second attempt.

Medical Assistant students have had a 100% pass rate for the last six years.

Ten of 11 programs in this category had pass rates of 80% or better, which is considered a benchmark, Kottas said. Ten of 11 were above the industry average or the state/national average.

For 2024-2025, the overall pass rate for health-care programs was 89.5%.

There are also nine certification tests for trades and technology. These are for various levels of Commercial Driver’s License, Plumbing, Carpentry and Welding.

Seven of the nine had a 100 % pass rate, some for multiple years, and all had a pass rate over 80%. 

Essential skills

“We also seek input from employers,” Kottas said. Overall, employers who responded rated Barton graduates excellent or good, 85.7% of the time. Graduates rated at 100% for their technical education preparedness – knowledge and skills. The employers' level of satisfaction with their work performance was 100%. Areas to improve upon are critical thinking/problem-solving skills, time management, leadership, attitude, and “seeks continuously to improve,” or, as Kottas said, “the cluster we call Essential Skills.”

Barton has an Essential Skills Program to reinforce those skills. It started in the WTCE Division in 2011 and was implemented college-wide in 2021.

Student satisfaction

Students are also surveyed after they graduate. When asked, “How satisfied are you with the vocational training you received at Barton?”, 82% responded with excellent or very good.