The Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12, ensures that all students attending secondary schools in Ontario receive a standard report cardbased on the Ontario curriculum. The report card provides clear and detailedinformation to each student and his or her parents about how well the studentis achieving the provincial curriculum expectations. It also provides opportunities for students to assess their progress and reflect on the goals they have setin their annual education plans. In addition, the report card provides opportunities for parents to comment on students’ achievement and to identify waysin which they can support their learning at home. At the end of each semesteror school year, the report card also provides a summary of credits achievedand graduation requirements completed.
All high school students receive a provincial report card that lists courses, percentage marks for each course, credit earned, learning skills and work habits, comments, missed classes and times late. The course median information is also included. This is the percentage mark at which 50 percent of students in the course (all sections offered at the school during that time frame) have a higher percentage mark and 50 percent students have a lower percentage mark.
The Ontario Student Transcript (OST) was developed in 1983 to provide an officialand consistent record of the Ontario secondary school credit courses successfullycompleted by a student.Since the 1999–2000 school year, schools have been required to provide a completerecord of students’ performance in Grade 11 and 12 courses.1 Under this requirement,both successful and unsuccessful attempts at completing Grade 11 and 12 coursesmust be recorded on the OST. Note that this requirement does not apply to alternative(non-credit) courses.
The OST will include:
• all Grade 9 and 10 courses successfully completed by the student, with percentagegrades obtained and credits earned;
• all Grade 11 and 12 courses completed successfully or attempted unsuccessfullyby the student, with percentage grades obtained and credits earned;
• all equivalent credits granted through the Prior Learning Assessment andRecognition (PLAR) equivalency process under OS/OSS or through theequivalency process under OSIS;
• all Grade 10 courses for which the student successfully challenged for creditthrough the PLAR challenge process, with percentage grades obtained andcredits earned;
• all Grade 11 and 12 courses for which the student successfully or unsuccessfullychallenged for credit through the PLAR challenge process, with percentagegrades obtained and credits earned;
• identification of compulsory credits, including credits that are substitutions forcompulsory credits identified by the ministry as diploma requirements;
• confirmation that the student has completed the forty hours of communityinvolvement;• confirmation that the student has successfully completed the provincialsecondary school literacy requirement.
The Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) is a diploma granted to secondary school graduates in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of the publicly-funded province-wide school system. It is awarded to all students who complete the Ontario education curriculum, including students in Special Education, the TOPS program, MaCS program, IB Program, and other focused secondary school programs.
The academic credit system applies to students from Grades 9 through 12. To obtain an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, one must earn the following compulsory credits:
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.
This guideline sets out the policies of the Ministry of Education with regard to the establishment, maintenance, use, retention, transfer, and disposal of the OSR.
This guideline will be revised as needed. Each page of the guideline is dated, and replacement pages will be provided with a revision date.
As of September 2020, an update has been made to sections 6.1 and 6.2 and appendices H and I to align with Ontario Regulation 261/19, “Reciprocal Education Approach”.
The contents of this guideline have been reviewed for compliance with the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. When implementing the policies contained in this guideline or set by the school board, school staff must take into consideration the requirements of the relevant freedom of information legislation.
The OSR folder, Ontario Student Transcript, documentation file folder, and office index card are available from those vendors that are listed on the ministry's website, at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca. Samples of these OSR components are contained in appendices A, C, D, and E, respectively, to this guideline.
Other forms needed for the OSR are available on the ministry's website. Samples are provided in appendices F, G, H, I, J and K to this guideline. School boards and schools may wish to download and print these forms themselves, or they may have them printed by vendors of their choice. In either case, no changes of any kind may be made to the forms.
For instructions for obtaining the provincial report cards and for samples, boards and schools should refer to the Guide to the Provincial Report Card, Grades 1–8 and the Guide to the Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12. The provincial report cards are also available on the ministry's website.
1. Throughout this document, parent(s) is used to refer to both parent(s) and guardian(s).
2. The terms school board and board refer to district school boards and school authorities.
Access to an OSR means the right of those persons authorized by the Education Act or other legislation to examine the contents of the OSR. In addition, municipal and provincial freedom of information legislation permits persons who have the right to have access to personal information to receive copies of the information. This provision applies during both the period of use of the OSR and the period of retention and storage.
Every student has the right to have access to his or her OSR.
The parents of a student have the right to have access to the student's OSR, until the student becomes an adult (age eighteen). Under both the Children's Law Reform Act and the Divorce Act, 1985, the legal right of a non-custodial parent to have access to a child includes the right to make inquiries and to be given information concerning the child's health, education, and welfare.
Under the Education Act, only supervisory officers and the principal and teachers of the school have access to the OSR for the purpose of improving the instruction of the student. As noted above, additional access may be permitted under municipal and provincial freedom of information legislation, under specified and limited circumstances.
The Education Act permits the compiling and delivery of information contained in an OSR if it is required by the Minister of Education or the school board. In instances where ministry staff members are seeking to collect information from OSRs, students who are adults and parents of students who are not adults will be notified.
Subsection 266(2) of the Education Act states that the OSR will not be produced in the course of any legal proceedings. There may be occasions, however, when access to the OSR of current students or former students will be sought. In such cases, boards should obtain legal advice from their lawyers in order to deal with such issues as the following:
Information from an OSR may be used to assist in the preparation of a report required under the Education Act or the regulations made under it. Information from an OSR may also be used in the preparation of a report for an application for further education or an application for employment, if a written request for such a report is made by an adult student, a former student, or the parent(s) of a student.
The transfer of the OSR means the transfer of all parts of the OSR other than the office index card. Subject to the conditions outlined below, the original OSR is transferable only to schools in Ontario.
When a student transfers to another school in Ontario, the receiving school must be sent written notification of the student's transfer indicating that the student's OSR will be sent upon receipt of an official written request . When a student transfers to another school outside Ontario, only a copy of the student's OSR may be sent upon receipt of an official written request from the receiving school.
If the original OSR is being transferred between schools operated by the same school board, it may be transferred by a delivery service provided by the board.
If the original OSR is being transferred to a school in another board, to a private, federal, or First Nation school, or to a Provincial or Demonstration School, it must be transferred by Priority Post or an equivalent delivery method that is approved by the board and that maintains confidentiality and guarantees prompt delivery.
If some or all of the information in the OSR has been microrecorded or stored electronically and if the receiving school is capable of receiving this information in microrecorded form or electronically in such a way that the OSR can be effectively reproduced or viewed, the information may be transmitted to the receiving school either as a microrecording or by electronic transmission in advance of the paper parts of the OSR.
If a school is transmitting OSR information electronically or by means of facsimile, arrangements must be made to ensure the secure and confidential transfer of the information.
