South Texas College has ranked number one in the nation of four-year community college's awarding associate's degrees in education according to the national education journal, Community College Week. The college announces this ranking on the heels of signing an articulation agreement for education majors with The University of Texas Pan-American in late June.

"This is a very exciting time for our program," said Mary Gonzales, Child Development/Education Program Chair for STC. "We are doing everything we can to work with our higher-education partners in the Valley to lead more students to follow this wonderful career path. There is a tremendous shortage of educators throughout the area and we hope that more of our students will go on from STC to pursue a bachelor's in education and get into the classroom where they are desperately needed. The articulation agreements with The University of Texas - Pan American and The University of Texas at Brownsville are crucial to education student retention."

In May 2006, STC graduated 381 students with Associates of Arts in Teaching degrees, 274 of which focused on elementary education, 25 focused on middle school education and 82 focused on high school education.

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