Cabarrus Today

At Stanly County Schools, 180 out of 594 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 30.3% compared to the previous school year, when 32.4% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Stanly Early College High students stood out from schools in Stanly County Schools in English, with almost 71.9% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (23). Meanwhile, students from Albemarle High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 8.2% 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, 22.7% of Stanly County Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In math, 14.6% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 11.4% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Stanly County Schools had an average college readiness of 6.1% 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)
Stanly Early College High	57.1%	71.9%
Stanly STEM Early College	70.8%	70.3%
West Stanly High School	47.7%	34%
North Stanly High School	19.2%	28.7%
South Stanly High School	21.4%	19.8%
Stanly County Virtual Education	15.4%	12.5%
Albemarle High School	16.9%	8.2%
Stanly Academy Learning Center	<5%	<5%
Stanly County Schools	32.4%	30.3%