Secondary+School+Program

Graduation Requirements
In terms of graduating from York District School Board, from the sources I found on line, it is not compulsary to take religion courses to graduate. The [|Graduation requirements] are standard across the province. Each student needs 18 credits to graduate from secondary school in YCDSB. This source was found on the YCDSB website: It includes some recent changes made to the compulsary credits needed to graduate from secondary school. These changes include completing the required credits by taking additional option courses from Group 1, 2, 3. This information is helpful for a new teacher because it is important to be updated on changes in an interview, and it helps develop competence in the field of education.

The following sites include information about religion courses offered in all four grades at the Catholic Secondary School Level. It is interesting to note that the Catholic board is aware that most youth are influenced by the free market, pop culture and the media, and in tern are turning away from commitment to Catholicism.

These sites are important for a new teacher because they include the underlying values of York Catholic District School Boards, and the goals that every secondary school sets for its students.

[|Integrating Catholic education into the Ontario Curriculum] [|Ontario Catholic Board Expectations] [|Expectations update] [|Ontario Catholic Secondary School Graduate Expectations]

The following sites outline course profiles with curriculum expectations. These sites are imperative for a new teacher because they outline what is written in the Ontario Curriculum, and will help the new teacher to fulfill these expectations in his / her future lesson plans. [|Elementary Curriculum Units] [|Secondary Religious Education Course Profiles]
 * [|Catholic Course Profiles]**

Streaming/Destinations (ministry and board)
The [|York Catholic School Board] was recently updated and includes information about Admissions, Adult Continuing Education, Board of Trustees, Curriculum, Employment, Parents, Policies and special programs. The most important link for a teacher starting out and looking for a job is obviously the Employment link. This links to Human Resources which contains information about applying to YCDB on line, and upcoming interview dates.

As for Adult Continuing Education, it's important for new teachers to keep in mind that we don't all fall into mainstream full time high school positions, so it's a good idea to keep your options open. This includes general information, a guide about Adult Ed. and info about night school.

The [|Ontario Ministry of Education] contains many resources for new teachers. Basically, if you type in any word on the search bar, it's guaranteed you will get over 5 hits.

[|Ministry find a school board] is a useful link for teachers who have an interview at a school they applied to, but know nothing about. It contains links to the website of every school in YCDSB. The links include the background of the school, its location and contact. It's a good idea to check out the school and find out about its programs and what it has to offer before you're interviewed.

[|OSSLT] / [|EQAO]
The EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) is responsible for the administration of provincial tests that assess students' abilities in four areas:
 * Grade 3 students are tested in reading, writing and mathematics
 * Grade 6 students are also tested in reading, writing and mathematics
 * Grade 9 students are tested in mathematics
 * Grade 10 students take the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

The OSSLT is the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. The link for the OSSLT site that is provided contains a lot of helpful resources that new teachers can use to prepare their students for the literacy test.

Overall [|test results] for Grades 3, 6 and 9 reading, writing, mathematics both applied and academic. This section also includes the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test overall results for YCDSB.

YCDSB came up with an action plan in 2001 for how they wanted their students to prepare and what they wanted their students to learn from these standardized tests. The link to the plan is in pdf form:

This article includes easy-to-read general info about the OSSLT:



See how Grade 9 students in each school in YCDSB performed on the EQAO test most recently:



This file includes the highlights of how YCDSB students performed on their literacy tests. After reading it, you will find that they performed better than provincial average results.



[|Test reliability] is a definition that uses standart error to measure whether a test is effective or not. This article basically defines what the term is and gives an example. The following link is a technical report that publishes the most recently found standard error for the EQAO test:

In the article entitled __All About Assessment / Unraveling Reliability__ by W.James Popham, the concept of reliability is discussed as well as the quantitative measurement for it.

Reliability of a test is determined by standard error, and determines the range of score one would receive if one were to take the same test again 100 times.

In the EQAO site, under teacher resources, the technical reports can be accessed. I took a look at the Grade 9 math EQAO technical report and found that the reliability coefficients ranged from 0.78 to 0.89 for the primary and junior assessments, 0.81 to 0.85 for Grade 9 mathematics, and 0.86 to 0.88 for the OSSLT. This is a good standard of error. For example, if I got a score of 30 / 50, the next time I was to take the test if I was in Gr. 9, I would get 29.22 or 30.78.

This is important for a new teacher because it gives them an idea of the importance of creating reliable tests for one's students. The new teacher should test the students fairly and make sure the material is covered before administering the test.

This file contains an article about YDSB excellent performance on the literacy test and EQAO:

Thus, I reiterate the importance of knowing how the board is performing on standardized tests because it reflects the new teacher's competence. In addition, it is important to know what your secondary school values. If it is a very competitive school in EQAO or OSSLT, it is strongly reccommended that the new teacher learn about preperation, and how to improve the students' scores in the future.

Community service / extra curricular
There are a lot of fun events and opportunities to get connected to the community if you check out the links posted below. They are basically linking you to clubs you may want to join, associations and commitees. It's a good idea for a new teacher to be well connected with the parents, so I included the [|Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic education] to help connect you to the culture and values of your future students.

[|News and events calendar] [|Secondary curriculum council] [|WFMP conference] [|Institution for education leadership] [|Black history month]

This last link provides [|resources] that integrate the Catholic religion with the Ontario Curriculum. Good luck with your future, and I hope you get a job!