Cabarrus Today

At Stanly County Schools, 135 out of 594 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 dropped to 22.7% compared to the previous school year, when 28.7% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Stanly Early College High students stood out from schools in Stanly County Schools in reading, with almost 75% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (24). Meanwhile, students from Albemarle High School struggled the most on the reading portion, and only 6% 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, 30.3% of Stanly County Schools 11th-graders met English 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	59.5%	75%
Stanly STEM Early College	54.2%	40.5%
West Stanly High School	36.2%	22.4%
North Stanly High School	20%	20.2%
South Stanly High School	20.4%	18.8%
Stanly County Virtual Education	23.1%	12.5%
Albemarle High School	13.8%	6%
Stanly Academy Learning Center	<5%	<5%
Stanly County Schools	28.7%	22.7%