January 13, 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you know, Ontario teachers, including the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) which represents our Catholic teachers, are currently working through contract negotiations with the Ontario government. Last week, OECTA announced that it will begin an administrative job action today – Monday, January 13, 2020, which includes a partial withdrawal of services.
This legal job action means that it will not be possible to conduct the semester one EQAO Grade 9 math assessments, which were scheduled for Thursday, January 16 and Friday, January 17, 2020.
Teachers have been teaching the math curriculum throughout semester one. The curriculum taught aligns with and prepares students for the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment. Teachers will continue to work through the completion of the Grade 9 math curriculum as semester one comes to an end.
In the past at St. Clair Catholic, a student’s performance on the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment has been included as part of the student’s final summative grade, which forms part of their overall mark in the course. Given that this will not be possible this semester, all students in Grade 9 Academic and Applied math will be required to write a final exam. Teachers will weigh all evidence of student achievement and will use their professional judgement to determine the student’s report card grade. The exam will allow students an opportunity to demonstrate comprehensive achievement of the overall expectations for the course.
On January 8, the Minister of Education stated that students who do not take the EQAO Grade 9 math assessment in January will be required to write the test in June. The Board will await further direction from the Ministry with regard to a make-up test for semester one students. Board staff will work through the logistics of administering a make-up test, as this is likely to pose significant challenges to both school staff and Grade 9 students who are not studying math in semester two.
If you have any questions, please contact your principal.
Sincerely,
Deb Crawford
Director of Education