More schools are having a hard time de-streaming Grade 9 students, survey suggests
1 in 5 school principals reported having enough support to de-stream Grade 9 curriculum
More schools compared to last year say they're having difficulty implementing de-streaming curriculum for Grade 9 students, citing a lack of funding and resources from the province, a new survey released Monday shows.
Only 20 per cent of Ontario high school principals reported having enough support to de-stream Grade 9 students, according to a 2022-2023 school year survey conducted by charity People for Education, which advocates for public education. That marks a decrease compared to 30 per cent last year who said they have enough support.
"They reported a lot of challenges and a kind of sense of stress in terms of implementing it," said People for Education executive director Annie Kidder.
"None of them said it was a bad idea, but the vast majority of them said that they didn't have enough support."
Streaming — making students choose between "applied" and "academic" tracks — has largely been considered discriminatory among parents, educators and advocates due to its disproportionately negative effects on Black, lower-income, Indigenous and disabled students.
People for Education say students in applied streams have been less likely than students in academic courses to complete all their credits by the end of Grade 10, graduate, and go on to college or university.
That's why in 2021, the province directed all school boards to start de-streaming Grade 9 math, with other subjects to come after. Despite this, the charity says the survey results suggest that not all the proper planning and resources are in place to make sure the policy is properly implemented.
"The worry now is that because the implementation doesn't appear to be effective enough, is that it will create a kind of backlash against de-streaming," said Kidder.
The organization called on the province to create a task force to provide proper guidance on how to de-stream, provide "sufficient and ongoing resources" and implement an evaluation plan to monitor the success of the policy.
Ministry says it has invested $104 million
In an email to CBC Toronto, Isha Chaudhuri, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said it's investing nearly $104 million this year for additional de-streaming supports, with nearly 940 educators hired to support students transitioning into and out of de-streamed high school courses.
"Our government took action to de-stream the entire Grade 9 curriculum to remove barriers from student success, while also investing unprecedented funding," said Chaudhuri.
The ministry also said it gives funding to school boards to hire math coaches for priority schools and has hosted three webinars last school year to help them "share information and discuss strategies" related to de-streaming.
But according to the survey, principals said their teachers were having a hard time supporting struggling students without smaller class sizes, and time and resources for professional development and curriculum planning.
Additionally, they said de-streamed classes were harder to teach without supports or educational assistants because applied-level courses often had higher proportions of students who need special education support.
Karen Littlewood, the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, says this is exactly what member teachers are reporting on the ground.
"People are doing their best to get by, but the students of Ontario deserve better than us getting by," said Littlewood.
Compared to 2021-2022 school year results, the survey found that 34 per cent of schools reported reduced class sizes, from 40 per cent. It also logged a decrease in schools providing teacher training to support de-streamed courses, from 89 to 81 per cent.
However, the organization did see an increase in schools that said they were able to provide resources for parents and guardians, from 31 to 37 per cent, as well as an increase in learning supports for students, from 18 to 29 per cent.
The survey is based on responses from 1,044 principals across Ontario's 72 school boards.
Advocacy groups wants de-streaming into Grade 10
Ontario was the last province to remove de-streaming in Grade 9. However, the province hasn't provided similar guidance for the grade after. When asked by CBC Toronto what directives it has given school boards on de-streaming Grade 10 courses, the province didn't respond.
People for Education says de-streaming needs to continue until Grade 10 or else students will face the same barriers that educators are trying to remove.
Jeleina Rasiah, a Grade 12 student and the vice president of communications of the Ontario Student Trustees' Association, says de-streaming in Grade 9 was a good first step. She hopes to see the province expand it to the next grade to make sure students have access to the same opportunities.
"I've seen that people have just gone through the applied route, and that's like the only path they get to take because to change from applied to academic it's a challenge and a half," said Rasiah.
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With files from Linda Ward and Lorenda Reddekopp