Hickory Sun

At Caldwell County Schools, 107 out of 739 senior students taking the math portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark in the 2022-23 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Math scores among the district's schools dropped to 14.5% compared to the previous school year, when 16.9% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Caldwell Early College students stood out from schools in Caldwell County Schools in math, with almost 38% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (35). Meanwhile, students from Hibriten High School struggled the most on the math portion, and only 9.8% were considered ready for college.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 25% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for math during the 2022-23 school year.

Besides math, 31.8% of Caldwell County Schools 12th-graders met English college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In reading, 29.2% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 17.9% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Caldwell County Schools 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%.

School	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2021-22)	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2022-23)
Caldwell Early College	39.4%	38%
Caldwell Applied Sciences Academy	16.3%	19.6%
South Caldwell High School	16.9%	15.1%
Hibriten High School	16.2%	9.8%
Gateway School	<5%	<5%
West Caldwell High School	6.1%	<5%
Caldwell County Schools	16.9%	14.5%