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, however, currently available, although one will be created and the PILNA 2021 writing results will be compared to it.

For now, 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 five writing performance section, the average writing score for grade five students in Palau was 515.31 (SD = 34.83) in 2021, less than in 2018 when it was 525.25 (SD = 63.96), but higher than in 2015, when it was 508.71 (SD = 67.27). Grade five girls scored higher than grade five boys in writing performance in 2015 and 2018, but not in 2021. Girls were more likely to be meeting performance expectations in previous cycles, but this was not the case in PILNA 2021.