National Test Results in the Dominican Republic: Differences Between the Public and Private Sectors

The research focuses on the results of the first call for the 2025 national tests in the Dominican Republic with the aim of comparing the performance of students in the public and private sectors. The approach was quantitative, non-experimental, and cross-sectional comparative. The public database available on the MINERD portal was used, from which the data analyzed in statistical tables with percentages and average scores were extracted. The universe considered was 85,808 students invited to take the tests. Private sector students performed better, with 87.86% passing compared to 79.96% in the public sector. Likewise, significant differences were established between both sectors, with private sector students achieving higher average scores in each area of knowledge and in each modality, obtaining their highest average in the Arts modality with 68.36 points in Spanish Language, while for the public sector it was in the Technical-Professional modality with 59.60 points, respectively. It is concluded that the socioeconomic factor is a determining factor between the two sectors, and it is suggested that the State promote a government policy that reduces social inequality.

Keywords:
Quality of education; social inequality; educational policy; educational testing; educational sectors