Conclusions for numeracy performance
Minimum proficiency levels
At the year four level, 58% of students in Cook Islands met or exceeded the minimum expected proficiency level (Levels 3–8). Fewer year four students in Cook Islands (58%) are meeting the minimum expected proficiency level than students in the region (67%) and in the Small Island States (63%).
At the year six level, 75% of students are meeting or exceeding the minimum expected proficiency level (Levels 5–8). Slightly more year six students in Cook Islands (75%) are meeting the minimum expected proficiency level than students in the region (72%) and in the Small Island States (73%).
Gender
Girls scored higher than boys in the average overall numeracy score and all the average strand scores in both year four and year six. Also, a greater proportion of girls than boys performed at or above the minimum expected proficiency level in both year four and year six.
School authority
When looking at the numeracy results by school authority for year four, students in non-government schools scored higher on average than students in government schools.
For year six, the trend is different; year six students in non-government schools performed similarly to students in government schools.
School location
For performance in the different school locations, both year four and year six students in urban schools performed better than those in non-urban schools. Year four students in urban schools achieved an average of 34 points higher than students in non-urban schools. The same difference is seen in the performance of year six students in urban schools compared to non-urban schools.
Coding
The coding data for numeracy shows that year four and year six students were persistent in attempting the questions, with a low proportion of students leaving questions blank. Both year four and year six students struggled with questions involving fractions and comparing numbers and information. The biggest struggle was with solving complex problems.
Trend performance
Fewer year four students are meeting the expected proficiency level in numeracy than in previous PILNA cycles. Also, average scores in numeracy have decreased since PILNA 2015.
The distribution of the year six students who performed at or above the expected proficiency level has increased over the cycles of PILNA since 2015. The increase is also evident in the mean scores over the PILNA cycles since 2015.
