1. The Ontario curriculum for Grades 1 to 12
1.1. Content Standards
1.1.1. The overall expectations describe in general terms the knowledge and skills that students are expected to demonstrate by the end of each grade or course.
1.1.2. The specific expectations describe the expected knowledge and skills in greater detail. Taken together, the overall and specific expectations represent the mandated curriculum – the content standards.
1.2. Performance Standards
1.2.1. The achievement chart
1.2.1.1. The purposes of the achievement chart are to: • provide a common framework that encompasses all curriculum expectations for all subjects/courses across grades; • guide the development of high-quality assessment tasks and tools (including rubrics); • help teachers to plan instruction for learning; • provide a basis for consistent and meaningful feedback to students in relation to provincial content and performance standards; • establish categories and criteria with which to assess and evaluate students’ learning
1.2.2. Categories of Knowledge and Skills
1.2.2.1. Knowledge and Understanding: Subject-specific content acquired in each grade/course (knowledge), and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
1.2.2.2. Thinking: The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes
1.2.2.3. Communication: The conveying of meaning through various forms
1.2.2.4. Application: The use of knowledge and skills to make connections within and between various contexts
1.2.3. Levels of Achievement
1.2.3.1. Level 1 represents achievement that falls much below the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with limited effectiveness. Students must work at significantly improving learning in specific areas, as necessary, if they are to be successful in the next grade/course.
1.2.3.2. Level 2 represents achievement that approaches the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with some effectiveness. Students performing at this level need to work on identified learning gaps to ensure future success
1.2.3.3. Level 3 represents the provincial standard for achievement. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with considerable effectiveness. Parents of students achieving at level 3 can be confident that their children will be prepared for work in subsequent grades/courses.
1.2.3.4. Level 4 identifies achievement that surpasses the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with a high degree of effectiveness. However, achievement at level 4 does not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond those specified for the grade/course.
1.2.3.5. Qualifiers: Level 1- limited; Level 2 - some Level 3 - considerable; and Level 4- a high degree of or thorough
1.2.4. Criterion-referenced Assessment and Evaluation
1.2.4.1. This means that teachers assess and evaluate student work with reference to established criteria for four levels of achievement that are standard across the province, rather than by comparison with work done by other students, or through the ranking of student performance, or with reference to performance standards developed by individual teachers for their own classrooms
2. Assessment for Learning and as Learning
2.1. What is assessment?
2.2. Means to obtain assessment information
2.2.1. formal and informal observations
2.2.2. discussions
2.2.3. learning conversations
2.2.4. questioning
2.2.5. conferences
2.2.6. homework
2.2.7. group work
2.2.8. demonstrations
2.2.9. projects
2.2.10. portfolios
2.2.11. developmental continua
2.2.12. performances
2.2.13. peer and self-assessments
2.2.14. self-reflections
2.2.15. essays
2.2.16. tests
2.3. Steps in assessment for learning and as learning
2.3.1. • plan assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction; • share learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of learning to ensure that students and teachers have a common and shared understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses; • gather information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end of a period of instruction, using a variety of assessment strategies and tools; • use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress towards achieving their learning goals; • analyze and interpret evidence of learning; • give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning; • help students to develop skills of peer and self-assessment. • analyze and interpret evidence of learning; • give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning; • help students to develop skills of peer and self-assessment.
2.4. Assessment for learning
2.4.1. The five strategies, adapted from Black and Wiliam (p. 8), are: • identifying and clarifying learning goals and success criteria; • engineering effective classroom discussions and other learning tasks that elicit information about student learning; • providing feedback that helps learners move forward; • through targeted instruction and guidance, engaging students as learning resources for one another; • through targeted instruction and guidance, helping students understand what it means to “own” their own learning, and empowering them to do so.
2.4.2. “Assessment for learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there.”
2.5. Assessment as learning
2.5.1. “Assessment as learning focuses on the explicit fostering of students’ capacity over time to be their own best assessors, but teachers need to start by presenting and modelling external, structured opportunities for students to assess themselves.”
2.6. Assessment of learning
2.6.1. “Assessment of learning is the assessment that becomes public and results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures.”
2.7. What is the difference?
2.7.1. The essential distinction is that assessment for learning is used in making decisions that affect teaching and learning in the short term future, whereas assessment of learning is used to record and report what has been learned in the past.
2.8. An Assessment Framework
2.8.1. The three processes, as identified by Ramaprasad in Black and Wiliam (p. 7), are: • establishing where the learners are going in their learning; • establishing where they are in their learning; • establishing what needs to be done to get them to where they are going.
2.9. Eliciting Information About Student Learning
2.9.1. Teachers can gather information about learning by: • designing tasks that provide students with a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning; • observing students as they perform tasks; • posing questions to help students make their thinking explicit; • engineering classroom and small-group conversations that encourage students to articulate what they are thinking and further develop their thinking
2.10. Providing Descriptive Feedback
2.10.1. Descriptive feedback helps students learn by providing them with precise information about what they are doing well, what needs improvement, and what specific steps they can take to improve.
2.11. Developing Student Self-Assessment and Peer-Assessment Skills
2.12. Developing Individual Goal Setting
2.12.1. . Teachers need to scaffold this learning for students, using a model of gradual release of responsibility for learning, as follows: • demonstrate the skills during instruction; • move to guided instruction and support; • have students share in the responsibility for assessing their own work; • gradually provide opportunities for students to assess their own learning independently
2.13. Individual Education Plan (IEP)
3. Evaluation
3.1. What is it?
3.1.1. Evaluation refers to the process of judging the quality of student learning on the basis of established performance standards (see Chapter 3) and assigning a value to represent that quality. Evaluation accurately summarizes and communicates to parents, other teachers, employers, institutions of further education, and students themselves what students know and can do with respect to the overall curriculum expectations. Evaluation is based on assessment of learning that provides evidence of student achievement at strategic times throughout the grade/course, often at the end of a period of learning
3.1.2. Assessment is the process of gathering information that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a subject or course. The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment for the purpose of improving student learning is seen as both “assessment for learning” and “assessment as learning”.
3.2. Evidence of Student Achievement for Evaluation
3.2.1. Evidence of student achievement for evaluation is collected over time from three different sources – observations, conversations, and student products. Using multiple sources of evidence increases the reliability and validity of the evaluation of student learning.
3.3. Determining a Report Card Grade: Grades 1 to 12
3.3.1. The report card grade represents a student’s achievement of overall curriculum expectations, as demonstrated to that point in time.
3.4. Students’ Responsibilities With Respect to Evidence for Evaluation
3.4.1. Cheating and plagiarism
3.4.2. Late and Missed Assignments
3.4.2.1. Where in the teacher’s professional judgment it is appropriate to do so, a number of strategies may be used to help prevent and/or address late and missed assignments. They include: • asking the student to clarify the reason for not completing the assignment; • helping students develop better time-management skills; • collaborating with other staff to prepare a part- or full-year calendar of major assignment dates for every class; • planning for major assignments to be completed in stages, so that students are less likely to be faced with an all-or-nothing situation at the last minute; • maintaining ongoing communication with students and/or parents about due dates and late assignments, and scheduling conferences with parents if the problem persists; • in secondary schools, referring the student to the Student Success team or teacher; • taking into consideration legitimate reasons for missed deadlines; • setting up a student contract; • using counselling or peer tutoring to try to deal positively with problems; • holding teacher-student conferences; • reviewing the need for extra support for English language learners; • reviewing whether students require special education services; • requiring the student to work with a school team to complete the assignment; • for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students, involving Aboriginal counsellors and members of the extended family; • understanding and taking into account the cultures, histories, and contexts of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students and parents and their previous experiences with the school system; • providing alternative assignments or tests/exams where, in the teacher’s professional judgement, it is reasonable and appropriate to do so; • deducting marks for late assignments, up to and including the full value of the assignment.
3.5. Evaluating the Development of Learning Skills and Work Habits for Grades 1 to 12
3.5.1. The learning skills and work habits are evaluated and reported as follows: E – Excellent G – Good S – Satisfactory N – Needs Improvement
4. Student with Spec. Ed. Needs
4.1. The IEP specifies whether the student requires: • accommodations only; or • modified learning expectations, with the possibility of accommodations; or • an alternative program, not derived from the curriculum expectations for a subject/grade or a course
4.2. Accommodations
4.2.1. Assessment accommodations are changes in procedures that enable the student to demonstrate his or her learning. These may include: • visual supports to clarify verbal instructions, assistive devices, or some form of human support; • alternative methods for the student to demonstrate his or her achievement of expectations (e.g., allowing the student to take tests orally) or the allowance of extra time to complete the assessment; • alternative settings that may be more suitable for the student to demonstrate his or her learning
4.3. Modified Expectations
4.3.1. Modifications are changes made to the grade-level expectations for a subject or course in order to meet a student’s learning needs.
4.3.2. Modifications may include the use of expectations at a different grade level and/or an increase or decrease in the number and/or complexity of expectations relative to the curriculum expectations for the regular grade level
4.4. Alternative Learning Expectations
4.4.1. Alternative learning expectations are developed to help students acquire knowledge and skills that are not represented in the Ontario curriculum expectations. Because they are not part of a subject or course outlined in the provincial curriculum documents, alternative expectations are considered to constitute alternative programs or alternative courses (i.e., secondary school courses). Examples of alternative programs/courses include: speech remediation, social skills, orientation/mobility training, and personal care programs. Alternative programs/courses are provided in both the elementary and the secondary school panels.
4.5. Assessments by Other Professionals
4.5.1. Possible types of assessments include medical/health assessments (vision, hearing, physical, and neurological); speech/language assessments; occupational therapy/physiotherapy assessments; and behavioural, psychological, and psychiatric assessments
4.6. Ongoing Assessment and Program Adjustment
4.6.1. Information gathered from ongoing assessment may indicate that the IEP needs to be adjusted by the teacher, in consultation with the in-school team and/or the special education teacher, the student, and the student’s parents, in one or more of the following ways: • developing new learning expectations or revising annual program goals, if learning is proceeding at a faster rate than anticipated in the plan; • breaking learning expectations into smaller steps or adjusting annual program goals, if learning is proceeding at a slower rate than anticipated in the plan; • altering the teaching and assessment strategies used and/or the type of individualized equipment or level of human support provided.
5. Fundamental Principles
5.1. The Seven Fundamental Principles
5.1.1. practices and procedures are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students
5.1.2. practices and procedures support all students
5.1.3. practices and procedures are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals and to the interests, learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students;
5.1.4. practices and procedures are communicated clearly to students and parents throughout the school year
5.1.5. practices and procedures are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning
5.1.6. practices and procedures develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specificgoals, and plan next steps for their learning
6. Learning Skills and Work Habits in Grades 1 to 12
6.1. Responsibility
6.2. Organization
6.3. Independent Work
6.4. Collaboration
6.5. Initiative
6.6. Self-regulation
6.7. The evaluation of learning skills and work habits, apart from any that may be included as part of a curriculum expectation in a subject or course, should not be considered in the determination of a student’s grades
7. Reporting Student Achievement
7.1. Report Card Requirements
7.2. Ontario Student Record (OSR)
7.3. Ontario Student Transcript (OST)
7.4. Versions of the Reports
7.4.1. Elementary Progress Report Card
7.4.2. Elementary Provincial Report Card
7.4.3. Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12
7.5. Reporting Schedules
7.5.1. Elementary Schools
7.5.2. Secondary School
7.6. Completing Basic Information for All Reports
7.6.1. Opening Section
7.6.2. Attendance and Punctuality
7.6.3. Elementary Provincial Report Cards – “Grade in September
7.7. Reporting on Students’ Development of Learning Skills and Work Habits: Elementary and Secondary
7.7.1. The Elementary Progress Report Card and the elementary and secondary provincial report cards provide a record of the learning skills and work habits demonstrated by students in the following six categories: • Responsibility • Organization • Independent Work • Collaboration • Initiative • Self-Regulation
7.8. Reporting on Achievement of Curriculum Expectations: Elementary and Secondary
7.8.1. Elementary Progress Report Cards: Grades 1 to 8
7.8.2. Provincial Report Card: Grades 1 to 6
7.8.3. Provincial Report Cards: Grades 7 to 12
7.9. Completing the Provincial Report Cards: Grades 1 to 8 – Subjects and Strands
7.10. Completing the Provincial Report Cards: Grades 7 to 12
7.11. Special Considerations and Comments in the Reports: Elementary and Secondary
7.11.1. Students With Special Education Needs
7.11.2. English Language Learners
7.11.3. Teacher, Student, and Parent Comments
8. ELLs
8.1. Teachers will check the ESL/ELD box on the progress report cards and the provincial report cards to indicate that modifications have been made to curriculum expectations to address the language learning needs of English language learners. The ESL/ELD box should not be checked to indicate: • that the student is participating in ESL or ELD programs or courses; or • that accommodations have been provided to enable the student to demonstrate his or her learning (e.g., extra time to complete assignments, access to a bilingual dictionary, opportunities to work in the student’s first language)
8.2. Accommodations related to assessment strategies, such as • allowance of extra time; • use of alternative assessment strategies (e.g., oral interviews, learning logs, or portfolios); • use of simplified language and instructions (e.g., in the context of tasks that require completion of graphic organizers and cloze sentences).
8.3. Accommodations
8.3.1. Accommodations related to instructional strategies, such as • extensive use of visual cues; • use of graphic organizers; • strategic use of students’ first languages; • allowance of extra time; • pre-teaching of key words; • simplification/repetition of instructions as needed; • simultaneous use of oral and written instructions.
8.3.2. Accommodations related to learning resources, such as • extensive use of visual materials; • use of adapted texts and bilingual dictionaries; • use of dual-language materials; • use of technology
8.4. Modifications
9. E-Learning
10. Credit Recovery
10.1. Guiding Principles
10.1.1. Credit recovery is part of a whole school culture and has equal status with other forms of course delivery.
10.1.2. Credit recovery is not a replacement for effective, positive instruction and intervention during the initial credit attempt, including the normal supports provided through special education.
10.1.3. Credit recovery is one of several options for any student who fails, but the final determination of credit recovery placement is made by the credit recovery team.
10.1.4. Decisions regarding the final placement in credit recovery programs must consider all factors that limited success.
10.1.5. The final credit granting for credit recovery programs is the responsibility of the principal.
10.1.6. Access to credit recovery must be through a recommendation by the principal and agreed to by the student and, where appropriate (e.g., students under the age of majority), the parent(s)/guardian(s), who must share some responsibility for the learning.
10.1.7. Credit recovery programming must consider all factors that limited success in the initial program.
10.1.8. The teacher of the initial program (the subject teacher) must provide the credit recovery team with relevant information to be considered when placing the student.
10.1.9. Programs must be pedagogically sound and have real and credible educational value. The integrity of the recovered credit must be preserved by the student demonstrating achievement of the overall course expectations
10.1.10. Within a board’s capacity to deliver credit recovery programs and adhering to the terms and conditions of collective agreements, credit recovery programs should be available to every student in publicly funded schools and are to be delivered by members of the Ontario College of Teachers employed by the board.
10.1.11. 11. Eligibility to gain access to a credit recovery program shall be based on a variety of indicators and not solely on a mark designation.
10.1.12. 12. The final percentage mark should reflect the achievement of all course expectations. Depending on the student’s credit recovery program, the percentage mark may be based solely on performance in the credit recovery program or may include results from the initial course and/or measures of prior learning. Regardless of the method used to determine the final percentage mark, the evaluation practices must be consistent with ministry and board policy.
10.2. The Credit Recovery Team
10.2.1. For the purpose of determining whether a student will be placed in a credit recovery program, the credit recovery team must comprise, at a minimum, the school principal (or designate), the Student Success teacher, and the Guidance Head (or designate, where there is no collective agreement provision for a Guidance Head).
10.3. The Process for Determining Eligibility for Credit Recovery
10.4. Credit Recovery Profile
10.4.1. The Credit Recovery Profile should include such items as: • units/concepts/expectations not successfully achieved; • relevant information related to learning skills and work habits
10.5. The Credit Recovery Learning Plan
10.5.1. should include items such as the following: • attendance expectations • workload expectations • how units of instruction to be recovered will be identified • which units of instruction will be recovered • whether or not a culminating activity / end task will be required • how a final percentage mark will be determined
10.6. Credit Recovery Limitations
10.7. Credit Recovery Programming, Assessment, and Evaluation
10.7.1. Option 1: The final grade may be based solely on the student’s performance in the credit recovery program. Option 2: Where the credit recovery term has determined that the results of previous evaluation will be recognized towards credit recovery, the final grade may be determined by merging the percentage marks that the student received for the successful achievement of course expectations in the original course (as provided by the subject teacher and evidenced on the credit recovery profile) and the percentage marks determined through evaluation conducted during the credit recovery program