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Guidance
The Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12, ensures that all students attending secondary schools in Ontario receive a standard report card based on the Ontario curriculum. The report card provides clear and detailed information to each student and his or her parents about how well the student is achieving the provincial curriculum expectations. It also provides opportunities for students to assess their progress and reflect on the goals they have set in their annual education plans. In addition, the report card provides opportunities for parents to comment on students’ achievement and to identify ways in which they can support their learning at home. At the end of each semester or school year, the report card also provides a summary of credits achieved and 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 official and consistent record of the Ontario secondary school credit courses successfully completed by a student. Since the 1999–2000 school year, schools have been required to provide a complete record of students’ performance in Grade 11 and 12 courses. Under this requirement, both successful and unsuccessful attempts at completing Grade 11 and 12 courses must be recorded on the OST. Note that this requirement does not apply to alternative (non-credit) courses.
The OST will include:
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 OSSD requires 30 credits, including compulsory and optional credits, 40 hours of community involvement, the provincial literacy graduation requirement and, where applicable, the online learning and financial literacy graduation requirements.
Students who entered Grade 9 before 2024–2025 generally require 18 compulsory and 12 optional credits. Students who entered Grade 9 in 2024–2025 or later require 17 compulsory and 13 optional credits, including one compulsory Grade 9 or 10 technological education credit. Cohort-specific requirements and substitutions are applied by the principal using current Ministry policy.
Students who enter Ontario secondary school in Grade 9 in 2025–2026 or later are subject to the Financial Literacy Graduation Requirement beginning in 2026–2027. It is completed through the compulsory Grade 10 Career Studies course, requires a mark of at least 70%, allows two attempts during the course and is recorded on the OST. Results count for 5% of the Career Studies final mark. Eder does not offer Grade 10 Career Studies in 2026–2027. Students entering Grade 11 or 12 from outside Ontario who receive Grade 9 and 10 equivalency credits, including Grade 10 Career Studies where applicable, are not required to complete this requirement.
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.
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.
