Performance » Writing » Grade 7 Writing :
Benchmarking Grade 7 writing performance: Are standards being met?
The numeracy and reading sections compare student performance to proficiency scales that describe expected student performance based on the number of years of schooling. A proficiency scale for writing ability is not currently available, although one will be created and the PILNA 2021 writing results will be compared with it.
For now, the average writing performance in PILNA 2021 is compared to writing performance over previous PILNA cycles. This gives an indication of how writing performance is trending over time, but it does not show whether writing performance is at the level Pacific stakeholders expect it to be.
As shown in the grade seven writing performance section (Figure CWF7.2), the average writing score for grade seven students in Marshall Islands in 2021 was higher than in 2015 and 2018. The average writing score for a grade seven student in 2015 was 491.69 (SD = 89.74), in 2018 it was 488.05 (SD = 96.09), and in 2021 it was 508.42 (SD = 48.98).
With grade seven girls scoring higher on average than grade seven boys in writing performance in 2015, 2018 and 2021, girls are more likely to be meeting writing expectations than boys.
Figure CWF7.9 depicts the average performance of grade seven students in writing relative to the region. It shows that the mean performance in Marshall Islands (508.42, SD = 48.98) is comparable to that observed for similarly educated students in the region (506.95, SD = 47.26).
