The Ministry of Education said that while there was an improvement in the average grade of Dominican student grades, the low averages still show there is stagnation in educational levels. Of 37,055 students of 10th grade who took the Pruebas Nacionales rated below 70 points on the tests in the 1998-99 testing. Only 59.4 of the students scored above the 70 points passing grade. Minister of Education says that in comparison to 1997-98 scores, there has been an improvement. She said in the area of mathematics, students went from 44.73 in 1997-98 to 60.20 for 1998-99. Spanish and Social Sciences showed only a slight improvement, while the averages for Natural Sciences declined. The better grades are obtained in Santo Domingo (64.2), the lower in Azua (53.5).
