CHANGE IN DIRECTION
Students, educators wrestle over secondary school streaming process
Guidance counsellor Matt Biggley talks with Grade 11 student Owen Van Vlack at Tecumseh Vista Academy. As educators review the practice of curriculum streaming, Van Vlack took the rare step of switching from applied to the academic stream.
For many Ontario students, the excitement of choosing Grade 9 courses for the upcoming school year is mixed with confusion over whether to take the academic or applied path.
The Ministry of Education announced last fall that it was reviewing streaming, which requires students to choose between applied and academic stream subjects, but has said little since about its intentions. Meanwhile, Grade 8 students are starting to make their decisions about what courses to take next year.
“We’ve gotten no particular direction on whether they’ll destream high schools or just certain subjects. We don’t know what to tell parents,” said Vicki Houston, the superintendent overseeing high schools for the Greater Essex County District School Board. Annie Kidder, executive director of the public education advocacy organization People for Education, advises parents to put their kids in the academic stream if they ’re not sure on which pathway to take. “While the system figures it out, it seems better for kids to go into academic courses,” said Kidder, who said she doesn’t expect any changes to be implemented before September 2019.
“It’s better to be in academic and advocate for support.” Kidder, whose organization is part of the Ministry of Education panel studying this issue, offers unvarnished criticism of what streaming has become and how difficult it is for applied students to switch to academic courses. Academic courses are more theoretical, while applied courses are more practical and hands-on. The original intent was students could mix and match courses in the two streams based on their preferred learning styles.
Instead, students taking Grade 9 applied math also tend to take most of their courses in the applied stream. They also tend to stay in the applied stream. Kidder said there have been examples of the academic and applied curricula differentiating too much. Fewer than five per cent of applied students in Ontario will switch to academic courses because they have to take bridge courses or repeat the same course at the academic level to switch. “It’s not working the way it was intended to,” said Kidder, citing studies and research. “There’s evidence of that all around the world. It’s overwhelming, and we don’t need to study it anymore.” Heather Irwin, senior media relations co-ordinator for the Ministry of Education, said there’s no timeline for any decisions yet. “We recognize that the status quo is not working for all students, which is why we are collaborating with our education partners to explore a renewed approach to Grade 9,” Irwin said.
“As identified in Ontario’s first Education Equity Action Plan, an unintended consequence of applied and academic courses in secondary schools is that a disproportionate number of students from low-income families, racialized students, Indigenous students and students with special education needs are enrolled in applied courses and are under-represented among students who graduate.” Studies in Ontario have shown that 67 per cent of students who take applied math or English in Grade 9 don’t go on to attend either university or college. More than half of applied students fail to make the provincial standard in the Education Quality and Accountability Office’s Grade 9 math and Grade 10 literacy tests. The Toronto District School Board announced in January it intends to phase out streaming in grades 9 and 10 over three years. It’s doing so after a board study found streaming was creating inequitable outcomes and limiting options disproportionately for minorities, students from lowerincome backgrounds and marginalized communities.
A 2000 study by Krahn and Taylor comparing streaming in four Canadian provinces found students maintained more postsecondary options in provinces with less streaming in Grade 9. “It’s about not closing doors too early,” Kidder said. “We want to make sure we leave lots of options open as long as possible. Wait until they’re at least 15 or 16.”
It isn’t a new concept. It was briefly tried in the 1990s and abandoned in 1999. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation points to that failed experiment as reason not to stop streaming students in Grade 9.
The teachers’ union president, Harvey Bischof, said in a written statement that there is no research or evidence to support getting rid of streaming. “Destreaming would constitute a radical departure from current practice and is now being considered in the absence of any discussion of its potential effects on instructional quality,” he stated. “In the end, pedagogy, not politics, should drive significant changes in the education system.”
Dan Fister, a superintendent of education for the Windsor-Essex Catholic School Board, feels the education system is much better prepared to handle destreaming now.
In the 1990s, teachers weren’t given enough training and there weren’t enough supports in the classroom to make it work, he said “We just said, ‘Here’s the curriculum,’ ” said Fister, who noted about 27.6 per cent of the board’s students in grades 9 and 10 were taking applied courses. Special education students and elementary classes are successful examples of teaching classes of mixed ability, he noted. High schools already offer mixed classes in open program selections and electives.
The government should take a bigger picture view by drawing colleges and universities into the discussion, Fister said.
He feels it should be easier for students to transfer between community colleges and universities, which would decrease the impact of decisions made in high school. Making it easier to move between streams in high school would also help keep students from feeling trapped.
“I think we’re doing this backwards,” Fister said. “We’re saying to kids in Grade 8, ‘Pick your destination and then try to work out how to get there.’ A lot of kids aren’t sure of their destination in Grade 8.”
Houston said school boards are trying to help students get a better understanding of who they are and their interests at an earlier age by compiling profiles going back to the junior grades.
With the help of school officials and parents, Grade 8 students make their decisions about whether to take academic or applied courses in their first year of high school based on criteria ranging from academic performance to social behaviour and learning styles. Currently, there are about 3,000 public board students locally taking at least one applied course in Grade 9 or 10. Of that group, 429 students are taking the core subjects of math, English and science in the applied stream in Grade 9. There are 466 such students in Grade 10.
“For the majority of students it’s fairly easy (to choose) because of what they’ve demonstrated over time,” said Houston, adding it’s extremely rare to see applied students switching to academic courses.
“There’s such great growth from Grade 8 to Grade 9 and tremendous growth from Grade 9 to Grade 10. It’s critical to watch that carefully and support them on the path they’ll be most successful in, especially for those students on the borderline.” Students and educators have to be careful not to have preconceived expectations about academic ability based on being in applied or academic courses, Houston said. Socio-economic factors can restrict a student’s access to additional resources, such as tutoring or even just having a parent available to help with homework because of the need to work two jobs to make ends meet. A student’s belief in him or herself is critical to achievement, as is the teacher’s mindset, Houston said.
“As a teacher, you have to remove that personal piece of yourself and your beliefs about who can be successful and who can’t.”