Page 36 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: The Arts, 2010

THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | The Arts
It is important to monitor, and to reflect clearly in the student’s IEP, the extent to which expectations have been modified. As noted in section 7.12 of the ministry’s policy docu- ment Ontario Secondary Schools, Grades 9 to 12: Program and Diploma Requirements, 1999, the principal will determine whether achievement of the modified expectations constitutes successful completion of the course, and will decide whether the student is eligible to receive a credit for the course. This decision must be communicated to the parents and the student.
When a student is expected to achieve most of the curriculum expectations for the course, the modified expectations should identify how the required knowledge and skills differ from those identified in the course expectations. When modifications are so extensive that achievement of the learning expectations (knowledge, skills, and performance tasks) is not likely to result in a credit, the expectations should specify the precise requirements or tasks on which the student’s performance will be evaluated and which will be used to generate the course mark recorded on the Provincial Report Card.
Modified expectations indicate the knowledge and/or skills the student is expected to demonstrate and have assessed in each reporting period (IEP Standards, 2000, pp. 10 and 11). The student’s learning expectations must be reviewed in relation to the student’s progress at least once every reporting period, and must be updated as necessary (IEP Standards, 2000, p. 11).
If a student requires modified expectations in arts courses, assessment and evaluation of his or her achievement will be based on the learning expectations identified in the IEP and on the achievement levels outlined in this document. If some of the student’s learning expectations for a course are modified but the student is working towards a credit for the course, it is sufficient simply to check the IEP box on the Provincial Report Card.
If, however, the student’s learning expectations are modified to such an extent that the principal deems that a credit will not be granted for the course, the IEP box must be checked and the appropriate statement from the Guide to the Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12, 1999 (p. 8) must be inserted. The teacher’s comments should include relevant information on the student’s demonstrated learning of the modified expectations, as well as next steps for the student’s learning in the course.
PROGRAM CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Ontario schools have some of the most multilingual student populations in the world. The first language of approximately twenty per cent of the students in Ontario’s English- language schools is a language other than English. Ontario’s linguistic heritage includes many First Nation and Inuit languages, the Métis language, and many African, Asian, and European languages. It also includes some varieties of English – also referred to as dialects – that differ significantly from the English required for success in Ontario schools. Many English language learners were born in Canada and have been raised in families
and communities in which languages other than English, or varieties of English that differ from the language used in the classroom, are spoken. Other English language learners arrive in Ontario as newcomers from other countries; they may have experience of highly sophisticated educational systems, or they may have come from regions where access
to formal schooling was limited.
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