Focusing on education priorities appears to be paying off for the Chinook School Division.

After coming just one per cent short of their goal after three years of their literacy program, the math momentum program is living up to their hopes. They have increased the number of grade 3, 6 and 9 students meeting or exceeding math assesments by 11.2 per cent over a year.

"Part of the issue with math is we're starting from a very low point," said Liam Choo-Foo, the Director of Education for the School Division. "We need to do a lot of work, but to experience 11 per cent growth in just our initial year, where we're still trying to build a foundation with our staff, is beyond our expectations.

Choo-Foo adds the staff have become more and more receptive to working with "math coaches" after the success of the literacy program, and a survey of teachers found that many of them would like to see additional coaches, so they could get more time with each teacher.

The program aims to increase the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations by 25 per cent over three years.