Hickory Sun

In the 2022-23 school year, 235 out of 739 Caldwell County senior students taking the English portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

In the 2022-23 school year, English scores among the county district dropped to 31.8%, a decline of 2.7% from the previous school year when 34.5% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 39% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for English during this year.

Beyond English, 29.2% of Caldwell County 12th-graders met Reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. On Science, 17.9% of students were ready for college, and Math scores revealed 14.5% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Caldwell County had an average college readiness of 9.9% 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%.

District	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2021-22)	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2022-23)
Caldwell County Schools	34.5%	31.8%