Outer Banks Times

At Dare County Schools, 192 out of 411 senior 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 46.7% compared to the previous school year, when 52.2% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Cape Hatteras Secondary School students stood out from schools in Dare County Schools in English, with almost 51.4% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (19). Meanwhile, students from Dare Learning Academy struggled the most on the English portion, and only 17.6% 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, 37.5% of Dare County Schools 12th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In math, 26.3% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 21.4% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Dare County Schools had an average college readiness of 15.6% 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)
Cape Hatteras Secondary School	40.6%	51.4%
First Flight High School	61.3%	50%
Manteo High School	47.2%	44.4%
Dare Learning Academy	10%	17.6%
Dare County Schools	52.2%	46.7%