GLEANER: The Ministry of Education has announced improvements in the performance of students in the Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy test.

 

Education Minister, Senator Ruel Reid says performance in the literacy portion of the exam increased by 5.5 per cent over last year.

 

He says 84.6 per cent of the students who took the test this year achieved mastery.

 

Mastery means that students mastered all three areas tested.

 

Senator Reid says 11.1 per cent achieved almost mastery, mastering one or two of the subtests.

 

He says 4.3 per cent of the students achieved non mastery in literacy.

 

Improvements have been recorded in numeracy as well.

 

The Education Minister says 66.9 per cent of students attained mastery in numeracy.

 

This is up 7.1 per cent over last year.

 

Reid says 25.1 per cent achieved almost mastery and 7.9 per cent received non mastery.

 

Senator Reid was speaking at a press conference yesterday.

 

CAPTION: Senator, the Honourable Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Information