Chapel Hill Review

In the 2022-23 school year, 913 out of 1,431 Orange County junior 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 districts rose to 63.8%, an increase of 2.6% from the previous school year when 61.2% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Countywide, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools students stood out in English, with almost 75.3% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (693). Meanwhile, students from Orange County Schools struggled the most on the English portion, and only 43.1% were considered ready for college.

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

Beyond English, 55% of Orange County 11th-graders met Reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. On Science, 50.7% of students were ready for college, and Math scores revealed 45.1% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Orange County had an average college readiness of 38.9% 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)
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	68.1%	75.3%
Orange County Schools	49.9%	43.1%
Orange County	61.2%	63.8%