Conclusions for numeracy performance
Minimum proficiency levels
The PILNA 2021 numeracy results for Solomon Islands show that, at year four level, 93% of students met or exceeded the minimum expected proficiency level (levels 3–8). Twenty six percent more of year four students in the Solomon Islands achieved the minimum expected proficiency level than year four students in the region.
In year six, 94% of students met or exceeded the minimum expected proficiency level (levels 5–8). A greater proportion of year six students have achieved the minimum expected proficiency level than the year six students in the region by 27%.
Gender
Similar levels of performance were seen between girls and boys at both the year four and year six levels.
At the year four level, 94% of girls and 92% of boys met or exceeded the minimum proficiency level (Levels 3-8). At the year six level, 95% of girls and 93% of boys met or exceeded the minimum proficiency level (levels 3–8).
School authority
Year four students in non-government schools performed better than year four students in government schools in both overall numeracy score as well as all the numeracy strand scores.
There is no notable difference in the performance of the year six students attending government and non-government schools.
School location
Year four and year six students in urban schools performed better in numeracy than those in non-urban schools.
Coding
The coding data for numeracy show that the year four and year six students were persistent in attempting the questions, with a low proportion of students leaving questions unanswered. The coding data show that, for both year four and year six, students struggled with questions involving fractions, place values, comparing numbers, finding time difference and conversions of measuring units. The biggest struggle is with solving problems, where students need to interpret and, conceptualise the information given to arrive at the expected response.
Trend performance
The distribution of the year four students who performed at or above the expected proficiency levels increased from 2012 (91%) to 2015 (97%), remained the same in 2018 (97%) and experienced a slight decrease in 2021 (93%), but this was minimal.
The distribution of the year six students who performed at or above the minimum proficiency level increased from 2012 (82%) to 2015 (93%), increased further to 2018 (95%), and remained similar in 2021 (94%).
