What Ontario’s Assessment Changes Mean for OSSD Students

The Ontario Ministry of Education has announced new requirements for how secondary students are assessed, beginning with the 2026-27 school year. The changes follow the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, and they apply to all Ministry-inspected private schools that offer credits toward the Ontario Secondary School Diploma, including Royal Ontario Academy.

As an inspected school, we are putting these requirements in place for the coming year. The good news for our students and families is that very little about your experience with us will change, because the way we already teach and assess reflects much of what the Ministry is now asking of every school.

What is changing

Three things are changing in how final marks are determined.

First, most secondary courses will now include a written exam, counted as part of the final course mark. Exams are written during the exam period set out in the school calendar.

Second, a student’s final mark will now reflect attendance and participation, alongside coursework and final evaluations. The Ministry has recognized how strongly regular engagement affects achievement. Importantly, excused absences will not count against a student’s mark.

Third, the overall breakdown of the final mark is now set by grade level. In Grades 9 and 10, the mark is based on 65 percent classroom work, 20 percent final evaluations, and 15 percent attendance and participation. In Grades 11 and 12, it is based on 65 percent classroom work, 25 percent final evaluations, and 10 percent attendance and participation.

Why Royal Ontario Academy is already well prepared

These changes ask schools to do three things: hold secure written exams, recognize student engagement in the final mark, and make participation a genuine part of the course. Royal Ontario Academy already does all three, and has for years.

Our exams have always been proctored. Every final exam at Royal Ontario Academy is written under secure, proctored conditions. We verify each student’s identity and secure the exam environment, using a professional proctoring service and a lockdown browser, so that the work is genuinely the student’s own. Our policy calls this exactly what the Ministry calls for, security and integrity, and it is the reason our students do not need to travel to write exams. The Ministry permits online exams where a school provides secure online proctoring, and that is precisely what we provide.

Engagement is built into every course, and we monitor it. In our asynchronous model, attendance is demonstrated through regular engagement rather than physical presence. We track each student’s activity on a daily and weekly basis through our learning platform, including the content viewed, the work submitted, and the progress made through each unit, supported by a student learning log. Students who fall inactive are contacted and supported. Recognizing engagement in the final mark is not a change of direction for us; it is something our courses are already built around.

Participation is required, not optional. Our courses are designed so that each lesson and unit must be completed before a student moves on to the next. Along the way, students work through interactive activities, including interactive videos, self-check questions, drag-and-drop tasks, and guided practice, which are a mandatory part of progressing through the course rather than an optional extra. Active participation is simply how learning happens here.

What this means for you

For our students, these requirements largely confirm the way we already work. You can continue to write your proctored exams online, from wherever you are. Your steady engagement with your courses and teachers now counts directly toward your final mark, and documented, excused absences will not work against you.

We are applying the new grade-level breakdowns across our courses for 2026-27, and your teachers will make the exam expectations for each course clear, including when and how each exam is written.

We already record engagement and absences, and our Principal follows up regularly with students who are not participating consistently in their courses. Under the new requirements, we are formalizing this so that engagement contributes to a defined portion of each student’s final mark. We will set out the detailed approach for students starting in September 2026.

Courses that do not require a written exam

Not every course requires a written exam. In the following, learning is assessed through culminating tasks such as projects, presentations, and portfolios instead:

– Grade 9 and 10 Locally Developed Compulsory Credits

– Grade 11 and 12 Workplace level courses

– Grade 11 and 12 Open level courses

– Courses in Guidance and Career Education, Co-operative Education, Interdisciplinary Studies, and American Sign Language as a Second Language

Why we welcome this

We support a more consistent approach to assessment across Ontario. Clear exam expectations and recognition of regular engagement reflect exactly the kind of steady, accountable learning we have always aimed for, and they help prepare students for the demands of university study. Secure, proctored exams also reinforce the academic integrity that gives the OSSD its value, and that have long been part of how we operate.

What you need to do

For most students, nothing changes about how you study with us. Keep engaging with your courses and your teachers as you always have. We are updating our course structures to reflect the new mark breakdowns, and your teachers will explain the exam expectations for each of your courses.

If you have questions about how the changes affect a particular course or your path to graduation, please reach out to us. You can also read the Ministry’s full policy in Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools.