Regular attendance is key to student success. Students who do not attend/log on regularly and/or who do not actively participate in their courses seriously jeopardize their opportunities to learn and reach their potential.
Teachers will monitor attendance patterns for their respective students and will work with them, and their parents/guardians to support students in any way they can. If student attendance issues cannot be resolved, the administration will be informed and possible consequences may include: student and parental/guardian contact, attendance contracts, or even removal from the program.
Ontario eSchool operates on a continuous entry and exit model where there is no defined start date or end date. It is therefore the students’ responsibility to communicate their anticipated endpoint to the teacher and then adhere to that timeline (within reason).
Even though OeS is not a brick and mortar school, attendance is monitored via login tracking system. It is imperative that students spend time logged into their courses if they want to be successful in them. Teachers through email will contact students that lack a reasonable number of logins or if there is a long period of time without a login. If students expect a long delay in course login, it is best practice to let your teacher know ahead of time. If student attendance issues cannot be resolved, the administration will be informed and possible consequences may include: student and parental/guardian contact, attendance contracts, or even removal from the program.
Students normally average 6 months to complete a course. If extra time is required because of personal reasons, please confirm the extra time required with your teacher. Students who do not complete their course within 12 months will be removed from the course and will not be reinstated unless there are extenuating circumstances that can be verified by appropriate documentation.
Student HandbookThe Learning Management System (LMS) used by Ontario eSchool is designed for educational purposes only. Use of any of the LMS tools for any purpose other than the intended educational purpose is prohibited. Inappropriate uses include, but are not limited to, criminal, obscene, commercial, or illegal purposes.
The administration has the right to review all student work in order to determine the appropriateness of computer use. If the LMS is used inappropriately, the Administration will impose consequences, which may include suspensions and/or removal from the program. Students need to be very vigilant in order to prevent getting into a situation where they may be suspected for inappropriate use.
Therefore students are reminded to:
Ontario eSchool will attempt to provide and maintain a safe and supportive educational environment in which learning can occur.
All members of the Ontario eSchool community, which includes students, staff and parents, will treat each other with respect in all interactions. Any actions determined to jeopardize the moral tone of the learning community including disrespectful, distasteful, abusive, harassing comments made to any of our community members will not be tolerated and will be dealt with swiftly by the Principal. Consequences may include, counselling, parental involvement, suspension, expulsions and/ or the involvement of the authorities. All steps of action shall comply with the laws governed by the Province of Ontario and the Ontario Education Act.
Overview
The Assessment and Evaluation Policy for Ontario eSchool is consistent with Ministry policy and reflects the vision that the primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment is the process of gathering information that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a subject or course. Assessment for the purpose of improving student learning is seen as both “assessment for learning” and “assessment as learning”. As part of assessment for learning, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback and coaching for improvement. Teachers engage in assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be independent, autonomous learners who are able to set individual goals, monitor their own progress, determine next steps, and reflect on their thinking and learning. Ongoing formative assessments will be used to provide meaningful feedback about student progress and achievement in order to improve performance. Summative assessments will be used to arrive at the grade.
Course evaluation will be divided into two parts:
70% is based on cumulative evidence of summative evaluations undertaken throughout the semester;
30% is based on final evaluations, which will take place in the final third of the course. Final evaluations may or may not include an exam depending on individual course curriculum policy documents.
At the beginning of the course, students will receive course outlines that will include detailed assessment and evaluation information, and that also outline the percentage breakdown for both the 70% and the 30%. All courses will be evaluated according to the following breakdown:
| Knowledge and Understanding | 20% |
| Thinking and Investigation | 15% |
| Communication | 15% |
| Application | 20% |
| Term Mark | 70% |
| Final Summative | 30% |
| Final Report Card | 100% |
Although each course will have the same breakdown, individual courses may have subject specific summative tasks that will be used to determine the student’s grade. Please refer to the course outline as it is presented in your courses for more details.
Students interested in earning the OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma) must successfully complete a total of 30 credits; of which 18 are prescribed and 12 credits are optional. In addition, students must also complete 40 hours of Community Involvement Activities and must meet the provincial literacy requirement.
The successful completion of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
Students must attempt to write the OSSLT at least once. If students are not successful on their first attempt they are now eligible to enroll into The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course and if successful they will have accomplished the OSSLT requirements.
Prerequisites for Grade 11 and 12 courses are specified in the curriculum policy documents for the various disciplines. These can be viewed on the Ministry of Education website: In most cases, students will only be registered into a course once they have submitted documentation supporting their completion of the prerequisite course. For example, the prerequisite for the Grade 11 university preparation course in English is the Grade 10 academic course in English. A student who has completed a course of one type in a particular subject and grade that does not meet a stated prerequisite for a course in the same subject in the next grade but has completed a transfer course is equally eligible to take the requested course providing once again that supporting documentation is forwarded to OeS. In unique situations, mature students that do not have the prerequisite can apply for an exemption. This must be requested in writing to the Principal of OeS. The requesting student will have an opportunity to explain their circumstances.
OeS will not make substitutions for compulsory or optional courses; students are expected to complete all compulsory and optional courses as outlined in the Ministry of Educations OSSD graduation requirements.
One of the purposes of the community involvement requirement is to develop strong ties between the students and their community, fostering valuable and long-term relationships. Students who are taking courses only through OeS and are not enrolled in any other school or program will be required to submit their record of community involvement if they have not yet completed the required 40 hours. Please see the list below of approved activities:
Activities approved:
Fundraising for non-profit organizations or assisting sports at the community level through religious affiliations such as helping at sales, bazaars, etc, seniors with chores in community committees, food banks, fairs, etc. in environment projects such as a recycling projects, etc..
OeS is also required to provide students with a record keeping form they will need to track and log the community involvement hours, which once complete will be kept in the student's OSR. Students are responsible for fulfilling this requirement on their own time. Please contact the Principal of Ontario eSchool if you have any further questions regarding community involvement as a prerequisite for the OSSD.
The Ontario Student Record (OSR) is the record of a student's educational progress through schools in Ontario. The Education Act requires that the principal of a school collect information "for inclusion in a record in respect of each pupil enrolled in the school and to establish, maintain, retain, transfer and dispose of the record”. The act also regulates access to an OSR and states that the OSR is "privileged for the information and use of supervisory officers and the principal and teachers of the school for the improvement of instruction” of the student. Each student and the parent(s) of a student who is not an adult (that is, a student who is under the age of eighteen) must be made aware of the purpose and content of, and have access to, all of the information contained in the OSR.
If a student is enrolled in one or more OeS courses and is also in another Ontario secondary school, the school where the student is taking the most courses will hold the OSR. Please note that OeS is not responsible to hold the OSR for students who have already graduated from another school, the graduating school is obligated to keep those records. If a student has not graduated high school and is exclusively pursuing courses towards their OSSD from OeS, OeS will request, establish and manage the OSR as per the Education Act. Items such as copies of report cards, community involvement and results of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy test are examples of records kept in an Ontario Student Record.
The Ontario Student Transcript (OST) is an official document issued by all public or private schools in Ontario. The OST contains a list of the courses completed from grades 9 through 12 including those completed successfully or unsuccessfully. The OST is stored in the OSR and kept for many years after the student graduates. Please note, as per the policies outlined in the Ontario Student Transcript Manual 2010 document, the school that maintains the OSR is also responsible for updating and maintaining the OST. Consequently, if a student is enrolled full time or part time through another school, that school will house the OST. OeS is responsible to assist in this record keeping process by notifying the OST holding school of the course and final achievement of a student taking a course through OeS. When students complete a course through OeS, they will be mailed a final report card. In addition, a second copy will be forwarded to the school that secures the students’ OSR so they can add it to the ongoing list of courses on the students overall transcript. Students that need a certified copy of their Ontario Student Transcript are directed to contact the guidance department of the school that holds their OSR. Students that require their final marks to be faxed to the Ontario University Application Centre are requested to send an email to info@ontarioeschool clearly authorizing this request including their first and last name, the course and final mark to be submitted, OEN and OUAC reference number.
Students may receive a credit without taking a course if they can demonstrate that they have the skills and knowledge from prior learning to meet the expectations for the course set out in the provincial curriculum. This must be requested in writing to the Principal of OeS
Under the OSS Policy, elementary school students are permitted to take “reach ahead” courses through a secondary school organization for credits. The successful completion of the course would be noted on the Ontario Student Transcript once the elementary school student becomes a secondary school student.
One of the provincial requirements of all OSSD graduates is the successful completion of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (or equivalent).
Ontario eSchool uses Brightspace (also known as Desire2Learn or D2L) as our integrated learning platform.
On Ontario eSchool’s login site you can find a link that will analyze your device for platform capability.
or
Please click here for a System Check before you login.
