I’ve also just noticed the study with poor results is for 2020/2021, where as the better results test was in 2022.
At young ages, brain development is a key factor for academic skills. Maybe we fell behind during covid because of our heavy handed lockdowns compared to other countries, but then kids quickly caught back up to the level they were capable of based on their brain development.
So what this shows us is that education is complicated
I feel this could be applied to pretty much anything that politics argues over.