The Foothills School Division is basking in the glow of the latest Provincial Achievement Test results.

Assistant Superintendent of Learning Services, Pam Rannelli says there were some definite positives.

"Our high school completion rate is 10 percentage points better than the province so that's really something to celebrate," she says. "Our high school completion rate is at 86.1 and our drop out rate is very low at 1.9."

She says those stats are very important because for every person that doesn't complete high school there's a cost down the road for social services, human services, re-employment and training and other factors that affect the community and that student.

She says the program of studies was rated above the province's and in PAT acceptable standards and diploma exams they're above the provincial mark.

Rannelli says there are some areas of growth they continue to focus on moving forward.

"What is exciting is we continue to see improvement which is really great and a real testament to our staff and teachers," Rannelli says. "You know the area that we really want to focus on is that level of excellence that's been fairly static and we want to continue to see that grow and be closer to provincial standards."

Rannelli says they put a lot of emphasis on high quality teaching in the division and support the teachers in terms of professional development and teachers are working together to put students first.

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