Chapel Hill Review

At Orange County Schools, 220 out of 511 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 43.1% compared to the previous school year, when 49.9% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Cedar Ridge High School students stood out from schools in Orange County Schools in English, with almost 43.8% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (106). Meanwhile, students from Partnership Academy struggled the most on the English portion, and only 27.3% 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, 35.6% of Orange County Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 30.4% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 25.4% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Orange County Schools had an average college readiness of 19.3% 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)
Cedar Ridge High School	53.3%	43.8%
Orange High School	48.6%	43.2%
Partnership Academy	<5%	27.3%
Orange County Schools	49.9%	43.1%