Hickory Sun

At Newton Conover City Schools, 71 out of 177 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 40.1% compared to the previous school year, when 44.3% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Discovery High School students stood out from schools in Newton Conover City Schools in English, with almost 80% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (44). Meanwhile, students from Newton-Conover High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 22.1% 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, 31.6% of Newton Conover City Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 26.6% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 22% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Newton Conover City Schools had an average college readiness of 13% 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)
Discovery High School	83.3%	80%
Newton-Conover High School	30.4%	22.1%
Newton Conover City Schools	44.3%	40.1%