Figure CNF7.2 shows the average numeracy scores of this group and of grade seven students in Marshall Islands in previous PILNA cycles. The score in 2021 was lower than in both the 2015 (511) and 2018 (536) PILNA cycles, while the standard deviation for the 2021 cycle was higher than in the 2015 (SD = 47.01) and 2018 (SD = 52.54) PILNA cycles. This means that the spread of grade seven overall numeracy scores in 2021 was broader than in previous PILNA cycles. More analysis needs to be done to understand whether these differences in scores are statistically significant.

Standard deviation shows how close data points are to the average. A lower standard deviation means that data points are, overall, closer to the average; a higher standard deviation means that data points are, overall, further away from the average.