Kindergarten

In 2010, with the inception of the province’s full-day kindergarten, the Ministry of Education released The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program, Draft Version. With input from various stakeholders, revisions have been made to the draft program. We are currently waiting for the release of the revised kindergarten program document. With a new curriculum program document to be released during the 2015-16 school year, the Ministry of Education is currently working on a provincial kindergarten report card which is expected to be released during the current school year.

The Provincial Report Card

Student achievement will be reported on 3 times during the school year. Between October 20 and November 20 of the school year, students in Grades 1-8 receive an Elementary Progress Report Card which: "...shows a student's development of the learning skills and work habits during the fall of the school year, as well as a student's general progress in working towards the achievement of the curriculum expectations in all subjects". (Growing Success, 2010 pg. 50)
Students in Grades 1-8 receive the Elementary Provincial Report Card twice a year. The first provincial report card will reflect a student’s achievement of the curriculum expectations worked on from September to January/February of the school year along with the development of learning skills and work habits. The second provincial report card will reflect the student’s achievement of the curriculum expectations further developed or introduced from January/February to June of the school year along with the development of learning skills and work habits during that period. (Growing Success, 2010)
Opportunities for parents/guardians and students to meet to discuss the report card will be available. Achievement is reported on the report card using letter grades (Gr. 1–6) or percentage marks (Gr. 7–8).
These grades or percentages correspond to the four levels of achievement outlined in the Ontario Curriculum documents. Teacher comments describe what students have learned, their strengths and next steps for improvement.
The Ministry of Education has set Level 3 as representing the standard for the grade, which means that Level 3 identifies the level of achievement at which parents/guardians and teachers can be confident students are well prepared for work at the next grade. On the Report Card, Level 3 achievement is represented by a B-, B or B+ for students in Grades 1–6 and 70–79% for Grades 7–8. Students may achieve at Level 4 (A-, A, A+ or 80-100%) indicating that they have exceeded the provincial standard.
Level 4 does not mean working above grade level expectations, but, rather, indicates a grasp of knowledge and skills specified for the grade that is above the standard for the grade. "R" or "Below 50%" is used for reporting purposes to flag the need for remediation and early parent/guardian involvement. "R" signals that additional learning is required before the student will begin to achieve success with this grade's expectations. "R" indicates the need for the development of a plan to address the student's specific learning needs and to ensure success for learning.