South Triangle News

In the 2022-23 school year, 316 out of 621 Chatham County senior students taking the English portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

In the 2022-23 school year, English scores among the county district dropped to 50.9%, a decline of 0.1% from the previous school year when 51% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 39% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for English during this year.

Beyond English, 44.1% of Chatham County 12th-graders met Reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. On Science, 30.4% of students were ready for college, and Math scores revealed 29.6% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Chatham County had an average college readiness of 21.2% across all ACT areas.

North Carolina's education system is still grappling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the 2022-23 ACT results, college readiness among North Carolina students falls short of pre-pandemic levels, with only 17.1% meeting benchmarks.

Additionally, the state's performance is lagging behind the national average, which currently stands at 21%.

District	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2021-22)	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2022-23)
Chatham County Schools	51%	50.9%