{"id":916776,"date":"2026-10-01T16:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916776\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T16:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T16:34:14","slug":"attendance-participation-now-part-of-final-grades-for-ontario-high-school-students-but-confusion-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916776\/","title":{"rendered":"Attendance, participation now part of final grades for Ontario high school students but confusion remains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra explains the tabled bill that would see sweeping changes to the education system. <\/p>\n

New provincial legislation that makes attendance and participation a part of the final grade for secondary school students is now in effect, but a representative from an association representing student trustees says there continues to be uncertainty around \u201cgrey areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy, which took effect at the beginning of this school year, dictates that 15 per cent of Grade 9 and 10 students\u2019 final marks be based on attendance and participation; 10 per cent for those in Grades 11 and 12.<\/p>\n

Education Minister Paul Calandra told reporters last month that the intent behind this policy is simply to penalize kids who are \u201cskipping\u201d classes, not those who \u201care busy and are doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ontario Minister of Education Paul Calandra Ontario Minister of Education Paul Calandra speaks during an appearance on CP24 on Sept. 8, 2026. PHOTO: CTV NEWS <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this is about is those kids who don\u2019t have an excused absence from their parents, who sometimes their parents don\u2019t even know that they are skipping a class, that is what this is targeted towards,\u201d Calandra said during a Sept. 1 press conference.<\/p>\n

He insisted that \u201cparents still have the ability to excuse their children,\u201d saying they \u201cultimately have control.\u201d If their child has important extracurricular activities or even a family vacation that takes them out of school, the minister says \u201cthat is still going to be allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calandra did note that parents\/guardians are responsible for informing the principal – who will have the ability to \u201cmake the determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"NoovoMoi-Shopping-Rear view of students going to the school in the morning. Rear view of a group of students going to the high school in the morning on their first day. \u2018Grey areas still exist\u2019<\/p>\n

Some parents and students, however, say they feel further clarity is still needed on this policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hearing questions from students about how exactly (it) is going to work in practice,\u201d said Jay Xu, a Grade 12 student at White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville and a spokesperson for the Ontario Student Trustees\u2019 Association (OSTA).<\/p>\n

\u201cGrey areas still exist, especially with extra curricular activities, like conferences and volunteering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Jay Xu, student trustee, OSTA spokesperson Halton District School Board student trustee Jay Xu, a Grade 12 student at White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville, is a spokesperson for the Ontario Student Trustees\u2019 Association. (Supplied). <\/p>\n

Tonya Stewart\u2019s daughter is in Grade 11 at a high school in North York, and requires a number of excused absences throughout the school year for dance competitions.<\/p>\n

She says her concern is the policy, both for attendance and participation, could be interpreted and enforced differently per school or even per teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (Toronto District School Board) hasn\u2019t provided anything to parents. There\u2019s no policy in place,\u201d she said, adding several parents have chimed in on social media and on online groups sharing similar apprehensions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe absence policy is open to individual interpretation. \u2026 I don\u2019t think the minister or the ministry thought this through very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

OSTA has a \u2018desire for consistence across the province\u2019<\/p>\n

Xu, who is a student trustee with the Halton District School Board, said his association has a \u201cdesire for consistence across the province\u201d when it comes to the new school attendance and participation policy, adding that achieving that will be more equitable and would reduce interpretation.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Attendance) plays a huge role in the (final) grade, especially for senior grades. It can affect post-secondary options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Xu added that OSTA would like to see the provincial government develop a more robust breakdown of the new policy\u2019s expectations, with clear rules on when absences can be excused and for what kinds of activities.<\/p>\n

Further, he said they\u2019re always open to speaking further with the Ministry of Education about their concerns, underlining that the student voice is key in this discussion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Saunders SS High school students inside Saunders SS in London, Ontario. (Reta Ismail\/CTV News London) Policy gives \u2018real consequences for skipping classes\u2019: minister\u2019s office<\/p>\n

In a written statement, Calandra\u2019s press secretary said \u201cclassroom attendance and participation help students succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response to a significant decline in student attendance across the education system, we have made changes to keep students in the classroom by reflecting unexcused absences in a student\u2019s final grade – ensuring there are real consequences for skipping class,\u201d Emma Testani wrote in an email to CP24.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcused absences, including for recreational, competitive, and school sports, as well as family vacations, are still permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"am800-news-st-joes-classroom-sept-2026 One of the new classrooms at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School as part of a new eight classroom addition. Sept. 4, 2026. (Meagan Delaurier\/AM800 News) <\/p>\n

Testani went on to note that the process to have a student\u2019s absence excused remains the same as it was last year for parents and students.<\/p>\n

She added that principals have also been advised to follow the same administration process for excused absences as they did the previous year at their school, adding that they do not need to be more restrictive when approving absences than they were in the past, and processes do not need to be changed in any way.<\/p>\n

CP24 has contacted both the English- and French-language public and Catholic school boards in Toronto for comment.<\/p>\n

The Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board both deferred to the Ministry, while the French-language boards did not respond to our requests.<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra explains the tabled bill that would see sweeping changes to the education system.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-916776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}