Randolph County News

At Randolph County School System, 161 out of 969 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 rose to 16.6% compared to the previous school year, when 14.5% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Randolph Early College High School students stood out from schools in Randolph County School System in science, with almost 50% of the 12th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (42). Meanwhile, students from Eastern Randolph High School struggled the most on the science portion, and only 9% 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, 26% of Randolph County School System 12th-graders met English college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In reading, 24.8% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 12.4% of seniors also met the standard. Overall, Randolph County School System had an average college readiness of 6.8% 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)
Randolph Early College High School	36.9%	50%
Providence Grove High School	11.7%	16.2%
Trinity High School	11.9%	14%
Southwestern Randolph High School	14.3%	13.8%
Randleman High School	8.6%	13.7%
Wheatmore High School	22.2%	13.2%
Eastern Randolph High School	<5%	9%
Randolph County School System	14.5%	16.6%