High Country Times

At Mitchell County Schools, 18 out of 134 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 13.4% compared to the previous school year, when 14.1% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Mayland Early College students stood out from schools in Mitchell County Schools in math, with almost 32.1% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (9). Meanwhile, students from Mitchell High School struggled the most on the math portion, and only 8.5% 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, 32.1% of Mitchell County Schools 12th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In English, 29.1% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 15.7% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Mitchell County Schools had an average college readiness of 15.8% 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)
Mayland Early College	12.9%	32.1%
Mitchell High School	14.4%	8.5%
Mitchell County Schools	14.1%	13.4%