Criticized for entrenching inequity in system, Ontario to end streaming in Grade 9
Province also plans to stop school suspensions for students from the age of junior kindergarten to Grade 3
TORONTO — Ontario is doing away with an educational practice long criticized for disproportionately targeting high school students from racialized backgrounds, the provincial government said Monday.
Streaming, which asks students to choose between pursuing academic or applied courses upon entering the secondaryschool system, has drawn criticism at home and abroad for entrenching inequity into the province’s education system.
The province also plans to end school suspensions for students in junior kindergarten to Grade 3.
The Education Ministry did not immediately provide details on the policy shift or the rationale behind it, but Premier Doug Ford said it was intended to bring Ontario’s education in line with the rest of the country while ending a discriminatory practice.
“We’re the only province in the entire country that does this, and it’s really not fair to certain groups of students,” Ford said at a news conference.
Ford said the practice of streaming was “almost stigmatizing” for students pursuing the applied track of study, which traditionally does not allow participants to graduate with the qualifications necessary to pursue university studies.
Ford said about 50 per cent of Ontario’s Black students wind up in the applied stream, a number much lower than the rest of the student population.
Several published academic papers have raised concerns about streaming and its effects on students from a range of marginalized communities. The United Nations also sounded the alarm in a 2017 report from its Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. The report addressed what it described as ongoing, institutionalized racism in the education system and its long-lasting consequences.
“Race-based stereotypes about African Canadian students’ scholastic ability have had a devastating impact,” the report read, noting Black students were more likely to be directed away from academic streams. “The quality of education received and the outcome of their educational experiences affects the employment and income potential of African Canadians.”