Ontario to make attendance count for up to 15 per cent of high school final grades

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra explains the tabled bill that would see sweeping changes to the education system.

Ontario high school students will soon have their attendance count for a sizable portion of their final grades, one of a set of upcoming changes to how students are assessed.

Policy changes affecting teacher instruction and student marks in class were among measures announced this week by Education Minister Paul Calandra as he tabled legislation to overhaul school board governance.

The proposed new measures largely target trustees, who are set to have a reduced role going forward, and school board administration, but Calandra also announced changes that will directly affect classrooms.

Participation and attendance will count for 15 per cent of final marks for Grades 9 and 10, and 10 per cent in Grades 11 and 12, and written exams will be mandatory on official exam days.

Calandra said he heard from teachers that declining attendance has been causing classroom management issues.

“It wasn’t on my radar at all,” he said Tuesday after question period. “I actually still thought attendance and participation was part of the mark, and I realized that for many, many years it had been taken out.”

Martha Hradowy, the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said she agreed with Calandra’s assertion that student absenteeism has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and needs to be addressed.

However, she said teachers would rather that happen by increasing resources so students feel supported and attend class, rather than giving grades for attendance in the way Calandra proposes.

“Right now, we’re seeing rising student needs alongside fewer supports, and that’s the real problem the government should be addressing,” she said. 

“For OSSTF, if the goal is better attendance, then the focus needs to be on smaller class sizes, more mental health resources and supports in schools, not new grading rules.”

Hradowy said some schools and boards had moved away from giving final exams, and “by and large” teachers support reinstating them.

When asked if he was providing standardized exam formats, Calandra said he was looking at that but “not right now.”

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the most urgent problems in education are class sizes and special education and nothing in the legislation helps those underlying issues.

“If your school is not a welcoming environment, if your class is too big, if you’re not getting the attention you need, if you have a special need, if school is not working for you because you don’t feel welcome, why are you going to go?” Fraser said.

Calandra also announced this week that the government intends to mandate the use of approved learning resources, such as lesson plans and student materials, in the way the province already provides an approved list of textbooks. Doing so will ensure consistency, he said.

“I hear this constantly as well, that teachers are being asked to fill in too many of the blanks when it comes to the delivery of the curriculum,” Calandra said Monday. 

“They spend a lot of time creating tests, they spend a lot of time creating a lesson plan, because they’re being forced to fill in the blanks of what has become a very thin curriculum document from the province over the years.”

Teachers would still be able to use supplementary materials based on student needs, the government said.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario worries the move could remove the ability of educators to respond to the needs of their individual classrooms.

“By centralizing control over which learning resources can be used in classrooms and directing assessment practices, the Ford government is stripping educators of the professional judgment they rely on to meet students’ needs,” the union wrote in a statement. 

“Replacing evidence‑based practice with ministerial directives imposes a business‑style management structure on public education, eroding the professional expertise that drives high‑quality instruction.”

The Ontario Principals’ Council expressed similar concerns about not allowing teachers to use their professional judgment. The principals’ group also said that Calandra making school climate surveys optional will limit access to data on equity and well-being.

“The ability of partners, including students, to provide anonymous feedback through these tools has provided critical insight for boards in responding to the diverse needs of students and school communities,” the principals wrote in a statement.

Calandra suggested in question period Tuesday that the surveys have so far been of limited use.

“When asked what did you do with these surveys, what results have come out of them, there were very few boards that could actually highlight what the results of all of the survey work was,” he said. 

“So boards can still do a survey, it’s not mandatory anymore, but what we would rather see, is results of the work and the funding that we are providing. I want safer schools. I don’t need to know if a school board itself thinks its school is safe.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press