Page 59 - Ontario Schools: Kindergarten to Grade 12

Students whose Individual Education Plan (IEP) indicates that the student is not working towards the attainment of the OSSD may, with parental consent and the approval of the principal, be exempted from writing the OSSLT or taking the OSSLC (see Appendix 3, Section 4).
Students who are working towards the OSSD under Ontario Schools, Intermediate and Senior Divisions (Grades 7–12/OACs): Program and Diploma Requirements, rev. ed., 1989 (OSIS) and students who are working towards an earlier diploma, such as the Secondary School Graduation Diploma, are not required to meet the literacy graduation requirement.
6.1.3.1 The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT)
The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is the usual method for assessing the literacy skills of students in Ontario for the purpose of determin- ing whether they meet the provincial secondary school literacy requirement for graduation. The test thus identifies students who have demonstrated the required skills in literacy as well as those who have not demonstrated the required skills and will need to do further work. The test identifies the specific areas in which these latter students need remediation.
The test is scheduled by and administered through the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) once each year, usually in the spring.
Students will usually take the OSSLT in the school year following the school year in which they enter Grade 9, unless a deferral is granted by the principal. Deferrals are granted in accordance with the policies described in Appendix 3, Section 3.
Students who do not successfully complete the OSSLT will have opportunities to retake the test in subsequent years, on dates scheduled by the EQAO. Once students have successfully completed the OSSLT, they may not retake it.
Students who are English language learners may be entitled to special provisions as outlined in Appendix 3, Section 2. For students with special education needs, accommodations specified in the student’s IEP must be available on the day of the test (see Appendix 3, Section 1). For students for whom required accommodations were not available on the day the OSSLT was administered, see section 6.1.3.2.
A student will take the OSSLT in the language of instruction of the school in which he or she is enrolled at the time the test is administered. School boards should ensure that this policy is made known to students and to parents of students who are planning to transfer from the English-language system to the French-language system, or vice versa, and who have not yet fulfilled the literacy graduation requirement. A student who has successfully completed the OSSLT in either English or French at the student’s previous board is considered to have
Part two: Secondary Schools 57