OSSLT – Literacy Test & Reporting

Posted by News Desk in Programs & Services on Nov 16th, 2010 | no responses

Literacy Requirement: Special Situations … Does one of these apply to you?

Accommodations:

Students who receive special accommodations in their school program, will receive the same accommodations when writing the OSSLT.

Deferrals:

Students may benefit from a deferral if:

identified as exceptional
registered in ESL/ELL courses and are not proficient in English.

Exemptions:

Students whose IEP states they are not working towards earning a secondary school diploma may not have to write the literacy test.

Literacy Requirement Adjudication Process

This process provides students with an additional opportunity to meet the literacy requirement needed for their diploma. Students who may be eligible for this include:

students who have not been able to write the OSSLT or enroll in, or complete, the OSSLC due to unforeseen circumstances
students who were receiving special education services or programs, and who had an IEP stating required accommodations, but, due to unforeseen circumstances, did not have access to these accommodations when they were taking the OSSLT.

Assessment and Evaluation

Assessment and evaluation of student work is based upon Achievement Charts in the Ontario curriculum documents which describe four levels of achievement from level one (low) to level four (high). Level three is the provincial standard. The charts include the four categories of learning within each subject. Learning skills, in most subjects, are separated from the content of the subject.

The final mark in each course is calculated by combining the student’s achievement on term work, such as tests, essays, performances and quizzes, with final assessments which occur in the final three weeks of semestered courses, and six weeks of non-semestered courses. The final assessments are designed to reflect the most important skills and concepts for the entire course. The term work accounts for 70% and the final assessments account for 30%.

Reports – How will I know how I am doing?

For semestered courses, students receive two formal report cards – a mid-term report and a final report. Mid-term reports are completed in November for first semester courses and in April for second semester courses. Final reports are completed in January for first semester courses and June for second semester courses.

For non-semestered courses, students receive three formal report cards – the first in December, the second in March and the third in June.

Other ways schools share student progress: