OSSLT

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) - Thursday March 30, 2017

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) will take place at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School during the morning of Thursday March 30, 2017.  All Grade 10 students will write the OSSLT, and successful completion of the test is one of the requirements to earn an Ontario Secondary School diploma.  

All students take the test in Grade 10 to measure their competency in reading and writing. Students who were previously eligible but have not yet written the test or who were unsuccessful on their first attempt will also write the test on this day. Please note that this date is the only opportunity for students to write the 2017 OSSLT. Students who are absent must wait until the Spring of 2018 to write the test. After writing the test at least once, if a student is still unable to pass the test, he/she can take the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC), which is the OSSLT equivalent. The OSSLT is a high school graduation requirement.

The test will focus on key skills in reading, including five reading selections with multiple choice and open response questions and writing, including two short-writing tasks, two long writing tasks and multiple choice questions. All of the questions are based directly on the expectations set out in the Ontario Curriculum. The test is given in two 75-minute blocks.

In order to prepare students to write the test, there have been a number of activities at the school including: identifying the expectations for all subject areas that pertain to the knowledge and skill required on the test and creating rich learning activities to address them, after-school preparatory sessions, partial mock literacy tests, conferencing with students about aspects of the test with which most students struggle and providing them with specific strategies which will enable them to be successful on the test.

Schedule for Thursday March 30

All students are expected to attend afternoon classes. We thank you for your cooperation and support.

We will also be adjusting bus schedules on March 30. Please take note of the following changes:

• Yellow school buses will pick up grade ten students at their regular time in the morning
• Students in grades nine, eleven and twelve will be picked up 3 hours and 15 minutes after their regular morning pick up time to get to school for 12:15 p.m. (delayed start time)
• All yellow school busses will run at the regular time at the end of the school day for all students
• Transportation will be arranged for students with special needs, with parents contacted by the school

Preparation for the OSSLT

Literacy skills are an important part of classroom instruction at St. Mary.  In addition, we are offering free classes at the school to prepare students for the test. The classes, which will begin on Wednesday, February 22, will run from 3:10 to 4:10 on the dates listed below.  Bus tickets will be provided as needed to students who attend the classes. Please return the signed permission form to Ms. Frysztacki in the library.

• Wednesday, February 22
• Thursday, February 23
• Tuesday, February 28
• Thursday, March 2
• Tuesday, March 7
• Wednesday, March 8
• Tuesday, March 21
• Thursday, March 23