Foothills Review

At Rutherford County Schools, 167 out of 441 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 37.9% compared to the previous school year, when 37.2% of students were considered ready for post-secondary education.

Rutherford Early College High School students stood out from schools in Rutherford County Schools in English, with almost 70.7% of the 11th-graders hitting the ACT benchmark in the 2022-23 school year (29). Meanwhile, students from R-S Central High School struggled the most on the English portion, and only 33.1% 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, 30.4% of Rutherford County Schools 11th-graders met reading college readiness benchmarks in the 2022-23 school year. In science, 18.4% of students were ready for college, and math scores revealed 18.1% of juniors also met the standard. Overall, Rutherford County Schools had an average college readiness of 9.3% 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)
Rutherford Early College High School	77.3%	70.7%
Chase High School	31.3%	37.1%
East Rutherford High School	36.9%	33.6%
R-S Central High School	35.5%	33.1%
Rutherford Opportunity Center	9.5%	<5%
Rutherford County Schools	37.2%	37.9%