Outer Banks Times

At Dare County Schools, 108 out of 411 senior students taking the math portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark in the 2022-23 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Math scores among the district's schools dropped to 26.3% compared to the previous school year, when 34.5% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

First Flight High School students stood out from schools in Dare County Schools in math, with almost 33.8% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (69). Meanwhile, students from Dare Learning Academy struggled the most on the math portion, and only 5.9% were considered ready for college.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 25% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for math during the 2022-23 school year.

Besides math, 46.7% of Dare County Schools 12th-graders met English college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In reading, 37.5% 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)
First Flight High School	41.9%	33.8%
Cape Hatteras Secondary School	37.5%	24.3%
Manteo High School	27.2%	19%
Dare Learning Academy	<5%	5.9%
Dare County Schools	34.5%	26.3%