For the Chinook School Board, another year of classes means discussing how student literacy is developing in the area. At Monday's board meeting, a report regarding just that was read and outlined some encouraging statistics.

The report stated that literacy numbers in the division were close to meeting provincial requirements.

Overall, 78.9 per cent of Chinook students are meeting or exceeding expectations in reading, 79.1 per cent of students are meeting or exceeding provincial writing, and 80.3 per cent of students are meeting or exceeding expectations for math.

The division expects that 80 per cent of students will at or above their grade level by June 2020, meeting that provincial standard.

Bob Vavra, the superintendent of schools with the Chinook School Division, said that new testing garnered some appealing literacy results.

"We were very pleasantly surprised, it was the first time collecting provincial data in math, and we did very well, we are actually exceeding what the provincial level is right now."

"I'm very positive that we'll improve in those areas, and reach our 2020 provincial goals."

The report also outlined that literacy and math coaches for teachers, professional development for teachers, as well as continue their Math Momentum Maintenance program, as well as using high impact writing strategies.

Vavra said that carrying out initiatives like that in the past has raised their math results around 35 per cent.