Math stock photo (Pixabay, 2020)
The Ontario government plans to stop its Grade 9 “applied” and “academic” track streaming.
High school students in Ontario typically have to choose between more practical, hands-on applied courses or more theoretical academic courses in core subjects.
This change means that decisions will not need to be made until grade ten. The President of the OSSTF Bargaining Unit, Cindy Gage, says that this a positive change.
She admits that once a student in grade nine makes the applied choice, it becomes difficult to shift to academic.
While the idea behind the change is a positive one, Gage says that teachers and students will need more resources in order to get the most out of the change.
The streaming process was developed in the late 1990s as a way to cater to students with different learning styles.
No timeline for the changes was provided as well.
