Greenville Reporter

At Pitt County Schools, 428 out of 1,367 senior 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 31.3% compared to the previous school year, when 33% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Innovation Early College High students stood out from schools in Pitt County Schools in English, with almost 86.7% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (39). Meanwhile, students from North Pitt High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 10.4% 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, 28.2% of Pitt County Schools 12th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 20.2% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 20.1% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Pitt County Schools had an average college readiness of 12.8% 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)
Innovation Early College High	66.7%	86.7%
Junius H. Rose High School	45.3%	47.7%
D. H. Conley High School	43.6%	38.1%
Ayden-Grifton High School	7.3%	28.5%
South Central	25.5%	19.4%
Farmville Central High School	26.2%	15.9%
North Pitt High School	9%	10.4%
Pitt County Schools	33%	31.3%