High Country Times

In the 2022-23 school year, 121 out of 335 Watauga County senior students taking the Science portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

In the 2022-23 school year, Science scores among the county district dropped to 36.1%, a decline of 1.4% from the previous school year when 37.5% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 23.8% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for Science during this year.

Beyond Science, 54.3% of Watauga County 12th-graders met English college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. On Reading, 46.6% of students were ready for college, and Math scores revealed 29% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Watauga County had an average college readiness of 21.8% 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%.

District	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2021-22)	Met or Exceeded Benchmarks (2022-23)
Watauga County Schools	37.5%	36.1%