Figure CNF6.2 shows the average numeracy scores of this group and of year six students in Tuvalu in previous PILNA cycles. The score in 2021 was lower than the score in the 2018 and 2015 PILNA cycles, but the standard deviation for the 2021 cycle was higher than that of the 2018 and 2015 PILNA cycles. This means that the spread of year six overall numeracy scores in 2021 was greater than 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.