Year six students in Small Island States had mixed performance across the PILNA subjects compared with previous PILNA cycles. The 2021 students scored higher in reading than any other PILNA cycle but scored similarly in writing and lower in numeracy to PILNA 2018. The average score in numeracy (538) was slightly higher than in the region (531), the average score in reading (540) was higher than in the region (492), and the average score in writing (509) was similar to that of the region (507).

Most year six students are also meeting minimum expected proficiency standards in numeracy and reading; 73% of students were at or above the minimum expected proficiency level in numeracy and 73% were at or above them in reading. A similar proportion of year six students in Small Island States are meeting the expected proficiency standard in numeracy (73%) compared with the region (72%) but a higher proportion are meeting the expected proficiency standard in reading (73%) than the region (53%). Minimum expected proficiency levels for writing have not yet been established but writing performance is similar to 2018.

In year six, girls tended to score higher than boys in numeracy (girls, 551; boys, 527), reading (girls, 565; boys, 518), and writing (girls, 520; boys, 498). Also, more girls were meeting minimum expected proficiency levels than boys in numeracy (girls, 81%; boys, 66%) and reading (girls, 83%; boys, 64%).

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