Ontario Secondary School Diploma
Encyclopedia
The Ontario Secondary School Diploma is a diploma
High school diploma
A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED.-Past diploma styles:...

 granted to high school graduates in the province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

Diploma requirements

The Ontario Academic Credit
Ontario Academic Credit
The Ontario Academic Credit or OAC was part of the curriculum codified by the Ontario Ministry of Education in Ontario Schools: Intermediate and Senior and its revisions. In common parlance, the term is used to describe the fifth high school year that used to exist in the province of...

 system applies to students from Grades 9 through 12. To obtain an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, one must earn the following compulsory credits
Credit (education)
A course credit is a unit that gives weighting to the value, level or time requirements of an academic course taken at a school or other educational institution.- United States :...

:
  • 4 credits in one's first language (English
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

     or French
    French language
    French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

    ) (from Grade 9 - 12),
  • 3 credits in Mathematics
    Mathematics
    Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

    , with at least one in Grade 11 or Grade 12),
  • 2 credits in Science
    Science
    Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

     (one in Grade 9 and one in Grade 10),
  • 1 credit in Grade 9/10 Canadian History,
  • 1 credit in Grade 9/10 Canadian Geography
    Geography
    Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

    ,
  • 1 credit in the arts
    ARts
    aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

    ,
  • 1 credit in health and physical education,
  • 1 credit in one's second language, either French or English,
  • 0.5 credits in Grade 10 Career
    Career
    Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....

     Studies, and
  • 0.5 credits in Grade 10 Civics
    Civics
    Civics is the study of rights and duties of citizenship. In other words, it is the study of government with attention to the role of citizens ― as opposed to external factors ― in the operation and oversight of government....



One must also earn 1 credit from each of the following three areas:
  • Group 1: 1 additional credit in a second language (either French or English), an aboriginal language, a classical
    Classical language
    A classical language is a language with a literature that is classical. According to UC Berkeley linguist George L. Hart, it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich...

     or international language
    International language
    International language may refer to:* Love* Music* Mathematics* International auxiliary language - a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...

    , or social sciences
    Social sciences
    Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

     and the humanities
    Humanities
    The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

    , or Canadian and world studies, or guidance and career education, or cooperative education
    Cooperative education
    Cooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience...

    *.
  • Group 2: 1 additional credit in health and physical education
    Physical education
    Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

    , or the arts
    ARts
    aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

    , or business studies
    Business studies
    Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...

    , or cooperative education
    Cooperative education
    Cooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience...

    *. As of March 2010, 1 additional credit in a second language (either French or English) can be used instead**.
  • Group 3: 1 additional credit in science
    Science
    Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

    , or technological education, or cooperative education
    Cooperative education
    Cooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience...

    *. As of March 2010, 1 additional credit in a second language (either French or English) can be used instead.**


Note that *, only 2 credits in cooperative education can be counted as compulsory credits, and that **, only 2 additional second language (either French or English) credits can be counted as compulsory: one in group 1, or one in either group 2 or group 3.

In addition, students must also have completed:
  • 12 optional credits (4 of which may be obtained through approved dual-credit course)s,
  • 40 hours of community service,
  • and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
    Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
    The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test is a compulsory standardized test for high school students in Ontario who wish to obtain the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. It was established in 2001 by the Conservative government...



Note that a student can receive his/her community service from the start of Grade 9 (including the summer between Grade 8 and 9) until the end of Grade 12, with summer break and weekends included. If one fails the Literacy Test, he/she must rewrite the test the following school year, or complete the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OLC 4O) in grade 12.

In Grade 9 and 10 (Year 1 and 2, respectively), a student must complete 16 credits in total, 8 each year. In Grade 11 and 12 (Year 3 and 4, respectively), one must complete the 14 remaining credits, with no less than 6 attempted credits each year in accordance with compulsory education
Compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...

law. In total, 30 credits must be achieved. One can stay in high school until all 30 credits are achieved, or to obtain any additional or required credits for post-secondary admission.
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