Conclusions for numeracy performance
Minimum proficiency levels
At year four level, 63% of Small Island States students met or exceeded the minimum expected proficiency level (levels 3–8), a similar percentage to that of the region (67%), and at year six level, 73% of students met or exceeded the minimum expected proficiency level (levels 5–8), a similar percentage to that of the region (72%).
Gender
Girls outperformed boys in both year four and year six in Small Island States; 72% of year four girls performed at or above the expected levels compared with 59% of boys and 81% of year six girls performed at or above the expected level compared with 66% of boys. Girls also scored higher than boys in both year levels in all numeracy areas. The greatest difference in average scores was in the ‘Data & Chance’ strand.
Trend performance
The average numeracy score of year four students increased from 486 (2012) to 505 (2015) then decreased by 1 point to 504 (2018) and a further 24 points to 480 (2021). The performance of year six students increased over the first three cycles of PILNA (506 in 2012, 523 in 2015, 555 in 2018) but fell to 538 in 2021.
