Grade seven students in Federated States of Micronesia had lower performance across the PILNA subjects compared with PILNA 2018. The 2021 students scored lower in numeracy, lower in reading, and lower in writing than in PILNA 2018. Average scores in numeracy and reading were also lower than any other PILNA cycle, but the average writing score was higher than 2015. Average scores in numeracy (506), reading (481), and writing (499) were also lower than the scores across the region (numeracy, 531; reading, 492; writing, 507).

About half the grade seven students are meeting minimum expected proficiency standards in numeracy and reading; 56% of students were at or above the minimum expected proficiency levels in numeracy and 47% were at or above them in reading. Minimum expected proficiency levels for writing have not yet been established but writing performance has decreased since 2018.

In grade seven, girls tended to score about the same as boys in numeracy (girls, 510; boys, 503), higher than boys in reading (girls, 489; boys, 474), and higher than boys in writing (girls, 507; boys, 491). Also, slightly more girls were meeting the minimum expected proficiency levels than boys in numeracy (girls, 58%; boys, 54%) and reading (girls, 50%; boys, 45%).

Grade seven students in non-government schools tended to score substantially higher in numeracy (government, 498; non-government, 572), reading (government, 470; non-government, 577), and writing (government, 493; non-government, 548) than students in government schools. This continues a trend seen in the past two PILNA cycles, 2015 and 2018.

Experiential and environmental data, as outlined in the contextual sections, may provide some insights into the reasons for these performance trends.