SE North Carolina News

At Brunswick County Schools, 315 out of 914 junior 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 rose to 34.5% compared to the previous school year, when 33.4% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Brunswick County Early College students stood out from schools in Brunswick County Schools in English, with almost 76.9% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (60). Meanwhile, students from North Brunswick High School and West Brunswick High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 27% 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, 25.8% of Brunswick County Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 21.3% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 15.2% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Brunswick County Schools had an average college readiness of 10.3% 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)
Brunswick County Early College	69.1%	76.9%
South Brunswick High School	35.9%	38.3%
North Brunswick High School	26.6%	27%
West Brunswick High School	27.5%	27%
Brunswick County Schools	33.4%	34.5%