Rocky Mount Today

At Edgecombe County Public Schools, 41 out of 309 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 13.3% compared to the previous school year, when 18.8% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Edgecombe Early College High students stood out from schools in Edgecombe County Public Schools in English, with almost 58.1% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (25). Meanwhile, students from North Edgecombe High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 6% 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, 11.7% of Edgecombe County Public Schools 12th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In math, 7.1% of students were ready for college, and science scores revealed 6.8% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Edgecombe County Public 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)
Edgecombe Early College High	68.4%	58.1%
SouthWest Edgecombe High School	14.6%	8.9%
North Edgecombe High School	<5%	6%
Tarboro High School	10.8%	<5%
Edgecombe County Public Schools	18.8%	13.3%