Curriculum Language
Curriculum Language
Curriculum Language
GRADES 1–8
Language
2023
This file is an extract and may not reflect or represent the full Ontario Curriculum.
Printed on 2024-06-28
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Une publication équivalente est disponible en français sous le titre suivant : Le curriculum de l’Ontario
de la 1re à la 8e année – Français (2023)
Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, First Edition, Covering
Grades 1 to 12, 2010 sets out the Ministry of Education’s assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy.
The policy aims to maintain high standards, improve student learning, and benefit students, parents1,
and teachers in elementary and secondary schools across the province. Successful implementation of
this policy depends on the professional judgement2 of educators at all levels as well as on their ability to
work together and to build trust and confidence among parents and students.
A brief summary of some major aspects of the current assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy is
given below. Teachers should refer to Growing Success for more detailed information.
Fundamental Principles
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The seven fundamental principles given below (excerpted from Growing Success, page 6) lay the
foundation for rich and challenging practice. When these principles are fully understood and observed
by all teachers, they will guide the collection of meaningful information that will help inform
instructional decisions, promote student engagement, and improve student learning.
To ensure that assessment, evaluation, and reporting are valid and reliable, and that they lead to the
improvement of learning for all students, teachers use practices and procedures that:
1 The word parent(s) is used on this website to refer to parent(s) and guardian(s). It may also be taken to
include caregivers or close family members who are responsible for raising the child.
2 “Professional judgement”, as defined in Growing Success (p. 152), is “judgement that is informed by
professional knowledge of curriculum expectations, context, evidence of learning, methods of
instruction and assessment, and the criteria and standards that indicate success in student learning. In
professional practice, judgement involves a purposeful and systematic thinking process that evolves in
terms of accuracy and insight with ongoing reflection and self-correction”.
Engaging in assessment from a CRRP stance requires that teachers gain awareness of and reflect on their
own beliefs about who a learner is and what they can achieve (see the questions for consideration
provided below). In this process, teachers engage in continual self-reflection – and the critical analysis of
various data – to understand and address the ways in which teacher identity and bias affect the
assessment and evaluation of student learning. Assessment from a CRRP stance starts with having a
deep knowledge of every student and an understanding of how they learn best.
The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment for learning creates
opportunities for teachers to intentionally learn about each student and their sociocultural and linguistic
background in order to gather a variety of evidence about their learning in a way that is reflective of and
responsive to each student’s strengths, experiences, interests, and cultural ways of knowing. Ongoing
descriptive feedback and responsive coaching are essential for improving student learning.
Teachers engage in assessment as learning by creating ongoing opportunities for all students to develop
their capacity to be confident, independent, autonomous learners who set individual goals, monitor
their own progress, determine next steps, and reflect on their thinking and learning in relation to
learning goals and curriculum expectations. One way in which teachers differentiate assessment is by
providing tasks that allow multiple entry points for all students and that enable all students to design
and create personally meaningful assignments, projects, performances, and other demonstrations of
their learning.
The evidence that is collected about student learning, including through observations and conversations
as well as student products, should reflect and affirm the student’s lived experiences within their school,
home, and community, their learning strengths, and their knowledge of concepts and skills. This process
of triangulating evidence of student learning allows teachers to improve their understanding of how
each student is progressing in their learning.
When teachers engage in the process of examining their own biases regarding classroom assessment
and evaluation practices, they might consider some of the following questions:
• Are the tasks accessible to, and inclusive of, all learners? Do the tasks include appropriate and
varied entry points for all students?
• Do the tasks connect to students' prior learning and give them opportunities to be sense makers
and to integrate their new learning? Do the selected tasks reflect students’ identities and lived
experiences?
• Do all students have equitable access to the tools they need to complete the tasks being set?
• What opportunities can teachers build into their practice to offer students descriptive feedback
to enhance learning? Are graded assessment tasks used in a way that complements the use of
descriptive feedback for growth?
• How can information be conveyed about students’ learning progress to students and parents in
an ongoing and meaningful way?
• What is the purpose of assigning and grading a specific task or activity? Are student choice and
agency considered?
• How do teacher biases influence decisions about what tasks or activities are chosen for
assessment?
The development of learning skills and work habits is an integral part of a student’s learning. To the
extent possible, however, the evaluation of learning skills and work habits, apart from any that may be
included as part of a curriculum expectation in a course, should not be considered in the determination
of a student’s grades. Assessing, evaluating, and reporting on the achievement of curriculum
expectations and on the demonstration of learning skills and work habits separately allows teachers to
provide information to the parents and student that is specific to each of these two areas.
The six learning skills and work habits are responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration,
initiative, and self-regulation.
The Ontario curriculum for Grades 1 to 12 comprises content standards and performance standards.
Assessment and evaluation will be based on both the content standards and the performance standards.
The content standards are the overall and specific curriculum expectations given in the curriculum for
every subject and discipline.
The performance standards are outlined in the achievement chart, also provided in the curriculum for
every subject and discipline (each achievement chart is specific to the subject/discipline; see the sample
charts provided). The achievement chart is a standard province-wide guide and is to be used by all
teachers as a framework for assessing and evaluating student achievement of the expectations in the
particular subject or discipline. It enables teachers to make consistent judgements about the quality of
student learning, based on clear performance standards and on a body of evidence collected over time.
It also provides teachers with a foundation for developing clear and specific feedback for students and
parents.
• provide a common framework that encompasses all curriculum expectations for all
subjects/courses across the grades;
• guide the development of high-quality assessment tasks and tools (including rubrics);
• help teachers plan instruction for learning;
• provide a basis for consistent and meaningful feedback to students in relation to provincial
content and performance standards;
• establish categories and criteria for assessing and evaluating students’ learning.
Assessment is the process of gathering information that accurately reflects how well a student is
achieving the curriculum expectations in a grade or course. The primary purpose of assessment is to
improve student learning. Assessment for the purpose of improving student learning is seen as both
“assessment for learning” and “assessment as learning”. As part of assessment for learning, teachers
provide students with descriptive feedback and coaching for improvement. Teachers engage in
assessment as learning by helping all students develop their capacity to be independent, autonomous
learners who are able to set individual goals, monitor their own progress, determine next steps, and
reflect on their thinking and learning.
Evaluation
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Evaluation refers to the process of judging the quality of student learning on the basis of established
performance standards, and assigning a value to represent that quality. Evaluation accurately
summarizes and communicates to parents, other teachers, employers, institutions of further education,
and students themselves what students know and can do with respect to the overall curriculum
expectations. Evaluation is based on assessment of learning that provides evidence of student
achievement at strategic times throughout the course, often at the end of a period of learning.
All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction and assessment, but evaluation focuses
on students’ achievement of the overall expectations3. Each student’s achievement of the overall
expectations is evaluated on the basis of the student’s achievement of related specific expectations. The
overall expectations are broad in nature, and the specific expectations define the particular content or
scope of the knowledge and skills referred to in the overall expectations. Teachers will use their
professional judgement to determine which specific expectations should be used to evaluate
achievement of the overall expectations, and which ones will be accounted for in instruction and
assessment but not necessarily evaluated.
Determining a report card grade involves the interpretation of evidence collected through observations,
conversations, and student products (tests/exams, assignments for evaluation), combined with the
3Beginning in the 2021–22 school year, schools are asked not to assess, evaluate or report on the
overall expectations related to social-emotional learning skills in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8,
Mathematics (2020) and The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8, Health and Physical Education (2019). It is
the ministry’s expectation that instruction of the social-emotional learning skills will continue while
educators engage in ongoing professional learning.
Secondary
Seventy per cent of the final grade (a percentage mark) in a course will be based on evaluation
conducted throughout the course. This portion of the grade should reflect the student’s most consistent
level of achievement, with special consideration given to more recent evidence. Thirty per cent will be
based on a final evaluation administered at or towards the end of the course. This evaluation will be
based on evidence from one or a combination of the following: an examination, a performance, an
essay, and/or another method of evaluation suitable to the course content. The final evaluation allows
the student an opportunity to demonstrate comprehensive achievement of the overall expectations for
the course.
Elementary
Three formal report cards are issued in Ontario’s publicly funded elementary schools, as described
below.
The Elementary Progress Report Card shows a student’s development of learning skills and work habits
during the fall of the school year, as well as the student’s general progress in working towards
achievement of the curriculum expectations in each subject (reported as “progressing very well”,
“progressing well”, or “progressing with difficulty”).
The Elementary Provincial Report Card shows a student’s achievement at specific points in the school
year. The first Provincial Report Card reflects student achievement of the overall curriculum
expectations introduced and developed from September to January/February of the school year, as well
as the student’s development of learning skills and work habits during that period. The second reflects
achievement of curriculum expectations introduced or further developed from January/February to
June, as well as further development of learning skills and work habits during that period. The Provincial
Report Card for Grades 1–6 uses letter grades; the report card for Grades 7 and 8 uses percentage
grades.
Secondary
The Provincial Report Card, Grades 9–12, shows a student’s achievement at specific points in the school
year or semester. There are two formal reporting periods for a semestered course and three formal
Although there are formal reporting periods, communication with parents and students about student
achievement should be continuous throughout the year or course, by a variety of means, such as
parent-teacher or parent-student-teacher conferences, portfolios of student work, student-led
conferences, interviews, phone calls, checklists, and informal reports. Communication about student
achievement should be designed to provide detailed information that will encourage students to set
goals for learning, help teachers to establish plans for teaching, and assist parents in supporting learning
at home.
The categories represent four broad areas of knowledge and skills within which the expectations for any
given subject or course can be organized. The four categories should be considered as interrelated,
reflecting the wholeness and interconnectedness of learning.
The categories help teachers focus not only on students’ acquisition of knowledge but also on their
development of the skills of thinking, communication, and application.
Knowledge and Understanding. Subject-specific content acquired in each grade or course (knowledge),
and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding).
Thinking. The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes.
Application. The use of knowledge and skills to make connections within and between various contexts.
In all subjects and courses, students should be given numerous and varied opportunities to demonstrate
the full extent of their achievement of the curriculum expectations across all four categories of
knowledge and skills.
Teachers will ensure that student learning is assessed and evaluated in a balanced manner with respect
to the four categories, and that achievement of particular expectations is considered within the
appropriate categories. The emphasis on “balance” reflects the fact that all categories of the
achievement chart are important and need to be a part of the process of instruction, learning,
assessment, and evaluation. However, it also indicates that for different courses, the relative
To further guide teachers in their assessment and evaluation of student learning, the achievement chart
provides “criteria” and “descriptors”.
A set of criteria is identified for each category in the achievement chart. The criteria are subsets of the
knowledge and skills that define the category. The criteria identify the aspects of student performance
that are assessed and/or evaluated, and they serve as a guide to what teachers look for. Each curriculum
has subject- or discipline-specific criteria and descriptors. For example, in the English curriculum, in the
Knowledge and Understanding category, the criteria are “knowledge of content” and “understanding of
content”. The former includes examples such as forms of text and elements of style, and the latter
includes examples such as relationships among facts. “Descriptors” indicate the characteristics of the
student’s performance, with respect to a particular criterion, on which assessment or evaluation is
focused. Effectiveness is the descriptor used for each of the criteria in the Thinking, Communication, and
Application categories. What constitutes effectiveness in any given performance task will vary with the
particular criterion being considered. Assessment of effectiveness may therefore focus on a quality such
as appropriateness, clarity, accuracy, precision, logic, relevance, significance, fluency, flexibility, depth,
or breadth, as appropriate for the particular criterion.
Levels of Achievement
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The achievement chart also identifies four levels of achievement, defined as follows:
Level 1 represents achievement that falls much below the provincial standard. The student
demonstrates the specified knowledge and skills with limited effectiveness. Students must work at
significantly improving in specific areas, as necessary, if they are to be successful in a subject or course in
the next grade.
Level 2 represents achievement that approaches the standard. The student demonstrates the specified
knowledge and skills with some effectiveness. Students performing at this level need to work on
identified learning gaps to ensure future success.
Level 4 identifies achievement that surpasses the provincial standard. The student demonstrates the
specified knowledge and skills with a high degree of effectiveness. However, achievement at level 4 does
not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond those specified for the grade or course.
Specific “qualifiers” are used with the descriptors in the achievement chart to describe student
performance at each of the four levels of achievement – the qualifier limited is used for level 1; some for
level 2; considerable for level 3; and a high degree of or thorough for level 4. Hence, achievement at
level 3 in the Thinking category for the criterion “use of planning skills” would be described in the
achievement chart as “[The student] uses planning skills with considerable effectiveness”.
Three samples of the achievement chart are provided, from the following subjects/disciplines:
These three samples illustrate the consistent characteristics of the performance standards across all
subjects and disciplines and across all grades. The samples also illustrate how the achievement chart
varies – particularly with respect to the examples provided for the criteria in each category – to reflect
the nature of the particular subject or discipline. For instance, the examples for the criterion
“Application of knowledge and skills” in the Application category of the achievement chart for the arts
include performance skills, composition, and choreography, whereas those for science and technology
include investigation skills and safe use of equipment and technology.
As discussed in the preceding sections, the achievement chart identifies four categories of knowledge
and skills and four levels of achievement in the particular subject/discipline.
Knowledge and Understanding – Subject-specific content acquired in each grade (knowledge), and
the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
Categories Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
The student:
Knowledge and Understanding – Subject-specific content acquired in each grade (knowledge), and
the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
Categories Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
The student:
Knowledge of content (e.g., demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates
facts, terminology, definitions) limited some considerable thorough
knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of
content content content content
Knowledge and Understanding – Subject-specific content acquired in each course (knowledge), and
the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
Categories 50 – 59% 60 – 69% 70 –79% 80 – 100%
(Level 1) (Level 2) (Level 3) (Level 4)
The student:
Knowledge of content (e.g., demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates
forms of text; strategies used limited some considerable thorough
when listening and speaking, knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of
reading, writing, and viewing and content content content content
representing; elements of style;
literary terminology, concepts,
and theories; language
conventions)
Understanding of content (e.g., demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates
concepts; ideas; opinions; limited some considerable thorough
relationships among facts, ideas, understanding understanding understanding understanding
concepts, themes) of content of content of content of content
Thinking – The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes
Categories 50 – 59% 60 – 69% 70 –79% 80 – 100%
(Level 1) (Level 2) (Level 3) (Level 4)
The student:
Overall expectations
Throughout Grade 4, in connection with the learning in strands B to D, students will:
Specific expectations
Throughout Grade 4, in connection with the learning in strands B to D, students will:
Specific expectations
Throughout Grade 4, in connection with the learning in strands B to D, students will:
Digital Citizenship
A2.1 explain their rights and responsibilities when interacting online with appropriate permission, and
make decisions that contribute positively to the development of their digital identity and those of their
communities
Specific expectations
Throughout Grade 4, in connection with the learning in strands B to D, students will:
B. Foundations of Language
Overall expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
i
For an elaboration of the mandatory learning associated with specific expectations, see
the “More Details” sections below. For an at-a-glance view of this learning across grades,
see Appendix A: Language Foundations Continuum for Reading and Writing, Grades 1–4,
Overall Expectation B2.
Vocabulary
B2.2 demonstrate an understanding of a variety of words, acquire and use explicitly taught vocabulary in
various contexts, including other subject areas, and use morphological knowledge to analyze and
understand new words in context
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
i
For an at-a-glance view of the mandatory learning across grades, see Appendix B:
Language Conventions Continuum for Reading and Writing, Grades 1–9, Overall
Expectation B3.
Grammar
B3.2 demonstrate an understanding of the functions of parts of speech in sentences, including relative
pronouns, the perfect verb tense and interrogative and imperative verbs, and the use of pronouns as
adjectives, and use this knowledge to support comprehension and communicate meaning clearly
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Elements of Style
C1.5 identify various elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and
sentence structure, and analyze how each element helps create meaning and is appropriate for the text
form and genre
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Reflecting on Learning
C2.7 explain how strategies, such as visualizing, making predictions, summarizing, and connecting to
their experiences, have helped them comprehend various texts
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Literary Devices
C3.1 describe literary devices, including personification and anthropomorphism, in a variety of texts, and
explain how they help create meaning and are appropriate for the intended purpose and audience
Making Inferences
C3.2 make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to extend their
understanding of various texts
Analyzing Texts
C3.3 analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting
ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, and explaining cause and effect
Reflecting on Learning
C3.8 identify the critical thinking skills they used to analyze and evaluate various texts, and explain how
these skills have helped them better understand the texts
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Developing Ideas
D1.2 generate and develop ideas about various topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and
inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources,
including their own lived experiences
Research
D1.3 gather information and content relevant to a topic, using a variety of sources and strategies, and
record the sources of information
Organizing Content
D1.4 select and classify ideas and collected information, using appropriate strategies and tools, and
sequence content, taking into account the chosen text form, genre, and medium
Specific expectations
By the end of Grade 4, students will:
Producing Drafts
D2.1 draft texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts,
using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Voice
D2.3 establish a personal voice in their texts, using varied language and elements of style to express
their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about a topic, and using a tone appropriate to the form and genre
Revision
D2.5 make revisions to the content of draft texts and to elements of style, such as word choice and
adding or deleting sentences, to improve clarity, focus, and coherence, seeking feedback
Reflecting on Learning
D3.3 describe various strategies that helped them present and communicate their message when
publishing and presenting texts, and explain how they helped them improve as a text creator