BY SANDY BEXON
The percentage of Chinook’s Edge students completing high school is now 78.2 per cent, up from the record-setting 77.7 per cent from last year and well above the provincial average of 74.5 per cent.
These are some of the findings in the recently released Accountability Pillar, which is a public results report from Alberta Education.
“Schools across Chinook’s Edge are working on this as a priority and there are many projects underway to support the increase we see in the number of students completing high school,” said Superintendent Kurt Sacher. “We are proud of the hard work being accomplished in all of our schools, across all the grades, that is directly impacting student achievement. High School completion is the result of years of quality learning, from the minute our students enter Kindergarten to the time they graduate. We’re very pleased with this evidence that our focus on achievement is setting our students up for success in school — and in life.”
Excellence levels were achieved once again for the Safe and Caring culture in Chinook’s Edge schools, as well as Education Quality, Citizenship and School Improvement.
“We are very purposeful and relentless when it comes to ensuring student success, and we start with the priority that each one of our students must feel safe and cared for every day. That is at the root of all quality learning, so continuing to achieve high results in this area is vital,” said Sacher.
“We still believe we can do better and we continue to work on our excellence levels in both provincial achievement tests and diploma exams. We would like to see even more of our students transition into post-secondary learning, and to see higher numbers of students participating in the many RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Programs) available through our partnership with Olds College, Red Deer College, e-Campus Alberta and others. That said, although we will never become complacent about our service to students, our improvement across this division over the last few years tells a great story and we are very pleased.”
The Accountability Pillar is posted in the Plans and Reports section of the division website at www.chinooksedge.ab.ca, and also includes details specific to individual schools.
“This is not just a single year of good results — this is a continuous improvement across many of the categories over the past few years,” said Colleen Butler, Board of Education Chair. “This level of achievement is the result of hard work by staff and students across the division, and we are very proud.”