South Triangle News

At Chatham County Schools, 306 out of 620 junior students taking the English portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark in the 2022-23 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

English scores among the district's schools dropped to 49.4% compared to the previous school year, when 51.3% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Chatham School of Science & Engineering students stood out from schools in Chatham County Schools in English, with almost 86.7% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (13). Meanwhile, students from Jordan Matthews High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 29.5% were considered ready for college.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 41% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for English during the 2022-23 school year.

Besides English, 44.2% of Chatham County Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In math, 33.4% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 32.1% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Chatham County Schools had an average college readiness of 22.4% 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%.

School	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2021-22)	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2022-23)
Chatham School of Science & Engineering	80%	86.7%
Seaforth High School	0%	63.4%
Northwood High School	61.8%	54.6%
Chatham Central High School	39.4%	33.3%
Jordan Matthews High School	36.3%	29.5%
Chatham County Schools	51.3%	49.4%