Chapel Hill Review

At Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, 604 out of 920 junior students taking the reading portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark in the 2022-23 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Reading scores among the district's schools rose to 65.7% compared to the previous school year, when 64.7% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Carrboro High School students stood out from schools in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in reading, with almost 69.4% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (130). Meanwhile, students from Chapel Hill High School struggled the most on the reading portion, and only 63.3% were considered ready for college.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 36% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for reading during the 2022-23 school year.

Besides reading, 75.3% of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools 11th-graders met English college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 61.9% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 56% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools had an average college readiness of 49.8% 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)
Carrboro High School	64.9%	69.4%
East Chapel Hill High School	70%	68.7%
Chapel Hill High School	61.9%	63.3%
Phoenix Academy High	21.1%	<5%
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools	64.7%	65.7%