The Ontario Secondary School Diploma is a diploma granted to secondary school graduates in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of the publicly funded province-wide school system. It is awarded to all students who complete the Ontario education curriculum, including students in Special Education, the TOPS program, MaCS program, IB Program, and other focused secondary school programs.
Diploma requirements
The academic credit system applies to students from Grades 9 through 12. To obtain an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, one must earn the following compulsory credits:
Group 2: 1 additional credit in health and physical education, or the arts, or business studies, or cooperative education*. As of March 2010, 1 additional credit in a second language can be used instead**.
Group 3: 1 additional credit in science in Grade 11 or 12, or technological education, computer studies, or cooperative education*. As of March 2010, 1 additional credit in a second language 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 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:
meet the provincial secondary school literacy requirement.
Note that a student can receive his/her community service from the start of Grade 9 until the April of Grade 12, with summer break and weekends included. The provincial secondary school literacy requirement can be met through passing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test with a score of 75.0% or above. If one fails the Literacy Test, he/she must rewrite the test the following school year, or complete the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course in grade 11 or 12. In Grade 9 and 10, a student must complete 16 credits in total, 8 each year. In Grade 11 and 12, one must complete the 14 remaining credits, with no less than 6 attempted credits each year in accordance with compulsory education 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.
The Ontario Secondary School Certificate may be requested by students who leave school before earning their OSSD if they have earned a minimum of 14 credits distributed over the following courses:
