Grade five students in Federated States of Micronesia had mixed performance in PILNA 2021 compared with PILNA 2018. These students scored lower in numeracy, lower in reading, and higher in writing than in PILNA 2018. Average scores in numeracy and reading were lower than any other PILNA cycle, while the average score in writing was higher than in any other PILNA cycle. Average scores in numeracy (457), reading (419), and writing (473) were also lower than the scores across the region (numeracy, 479; reading, 444; writing, 484).

About half the grade five students are meeting minimum expected proficiency standards in numeracy but only a small proportion are meeting them in reading; 55% of students were at or above the minimum expected proficiency levels in numeracy and 35% were at or above them in reading. Minimum expected proficiency levels for writing have not yet been established but writing performance is increasing.

In grade five, girls tended to score about the same as boys in numeracy (girls, 460; boys, 455) but higher than boys in both reading (girls, 431; boys, 410) and writing (girls, 480; boys, 466). Also, slightly more girls were meeting the minimum expected proficiency level than boys in reading (girls, 39%; boys, 33%), but a similar proportion were meeting the minimum expected proficiency level in numeracy (girls, 57%; boys, 55%).

Grade five students in non-government schools tended to score much higher in numeracy (government, 447; non-government, 532), reading (government, 404; non-government, 531), and writing (government, 465; non-government, 528) than students in government schools.

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