Educational quality is one of the benchmarks of development, and a recent study of Dominican high school graduates has many people shaking their heads. Of the 11,839 new freshmen at seven universities around the country most scored very low on a general test of skills in Spanish, Mathematics, and Science. According to data offered by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (SEESCYT), students averaged 3.52 in Social Studies, 3.62 in Science and 4.06 in Math, all on a scale of 10. The test of Academic Guidance and Measures (POMA) was given to students entering the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and six other universities between May and December last year. These universities were INTEC, UNAPEC, UAPA, UNICDA, the Salome Urena Teacher Training Institute, and ITECO. Minister of Higher Education Ligia Amada Melo told reporters from the various newspapers that “60% of the subjects showed deficiencies in relation to what a student needs in order to fulfill a higher education degree.” Reading comprehension was one of the lower scoring parts in the test with an over-all average of 4.32 on a scale of 10. Most students did better in the parts of the test that reflected things like maturity where the average was 5.63 out of 10.