Outer Banks Times

At Dare County Schools, 154 out of 411 senior 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 dropped to 37.5% compared to the previous school year, when 41.9% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Cape Hatteras Secondary School students stood out from schools in Dare County Schools in reading, with almost 48.6% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (18). Meanwhile, students from Dare Learning Academy struggled the most on the reading portion, and only 5.9% 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, 46.7% of Dare County Schools 12th-graders met English 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	28.1%	48.6%
First Flight High School	55.5%	45.1%
Manteo High School	32%	28.1%
Dare Learning Academy	<5%	5.9%
Dare County Schools	41.9%	37.5%