Updated Curriculum, New Report Cards Coming to Ontario Schools

Ontario’s  publicly funded education system ranks among the best in the world, preparing  students for academic and future success. To build on this progress and make the schools even better at unleashing every student’s full potential, Ontario is taking immediate steps to give students and parents better information about a child’s progress and launching an ambitious multi-year initiative to modernize curriculums and assessment tools from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mitzie Hunter, Minister of Education, were at Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute to announce the opening of public consultations for this new initiative and detail the new report cards, which will be introduced in schools for the 2018-19 academic year.

Ontario’s updated school curriculum will be developed through the public consultations with the goal of improving student achievement in core skills such as math and increasing emphasis on transferable life skills that can help students of all ages meet the changing demands of today and tomorrow. Communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and global citizenship are skills that will help Ontario students thrive as they grow up in a changing, interconnected world. Beginning next school year, new report cards will better track a young person’s development of these essential and transferable life skills.

” I have always believed that our work to build a fairer, more innovative Ontario starts in our publicly funded education system. We have great schools, but we always need to look for ways to make our children’s schools even better. We need to give kids the variety of skills they’ll need in a fast-changing world. This curriculum refresh will build on all the progress we’ve made and ensure we’re giving students the skills, supports and opportunities to make their mark in their careers, their communities and the world,” said
Kathleen Wynne Premier of Ontario.

By consulting with students, parents, teachers and other partners, the province also aims to: help students take full advantage of their education experience with a new curriculum that better engages every aspect of a young person’s interests and potential; place an increased emphasis on equity and well-being, including the effects that physical activity, bullying and mental health can have on student success in and out of the classroom; and update provincial assessment and reporting practices, including EQAO, to make sure they are culturally relevant, measure a wider range of learning, and better reflect student well-being and equity

” In order for Ontario to continue to support student well-being and promote equity in our publicly funded education system, we must be positioned to meet the growing and ever-changing needs of all students today and in the future. We will work with all of our partners to ensure students have access to the most current and up-to-date curriculum possible, from Kindergarten to Grade 12,” said  Mitzie Hunter Minister of Education.

A comprehensive overhaul of school curriculum and student assessment tools, aimed at making our schools better at unleashing the full potential of every child, is essential to building a fairer, better Ontario.