High Country Times

At Mitchell County Schools, 21 out of 134 senior students taking the science portion of the ACT met the college readiness benchmark in the 2022-23 school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Science scores among the district's schools dropped to 15.7% compared to the previous school year, when 19.5% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Mayland Early College students stood out from schools in Mitchell County Schools in science, with almost 35.7% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (10). Meanwhile, students from Mitchell High School struggled the most on the science portion, and only 10.4% were considered ready for college.

For comparison, North Carolina saw 26% of its students meeting or exceeding the ACT benchmarks for science during the 2022-23 school year.

Besides science, 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 math scores revealed 13.4% 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%	35.7%
Mitchell High School	21.6%	10.4%
Mitchell County Schools	19.5%	15.7%