London-area school boards are diving into full de-streaming this fall, a move praised by one education advocate who also offers some cautionary advice.
London-area school boards are diving into full de-streaming this fall, a move praised by one education advocate who also offers some cautionary advice.
“I think it’s very important we are proceeding to de-streaming. Organizations like ours have been calling for this for many, many years,” said Annie Kidder, who heads the advocacy group People For Education. “The thing that has been difficult from a principals’ and teachers’ point of view is there was not enough time for professional development.
“That’s really important and that there is sufficient staff so there can be smaller class sizes.”
Put in place in 1999, streaming requires students heading into Grade 9 to choose between academic studies that lead to university or applied studies that lead to college or the workplace.
Critics have said the streaming process unfairly funnels racialized students into applied streams.
Last July, as a first step toward de-streaming the entire Grade 9 education system, Ontario’s Education Ministry said it will no longer require students to choose between academic level or applied math in Grade 9 in order to combat “systemic racism” with the school system.
Last November, Ontario school boards learned academic and applied streaming would end in all Grade 9 subjects in September 2022.
Kidder said when schoolkids were divided into two group in Grade 9 “it was marginalizing groups that were already marginalized.
“(It was) putting kids at a disadvantage who were already struggling in school,” she said.
At the London region’s largest board, professional development for de-streaming began in January 2021.
“We worked on training teachers to look at each individual student and developing their curriculum for where the students are at,” said Christine Giannacopoulos, the Thames Valley board’s student achievement superintendent. “We are very committed to leveling the playing field for our students, providing them opportunities to achieve their goals in all the pathways, so they have every opportunity open and available to them.”
In the 2021-22 school year, 14 of the board’s 26 secondary schools de-streamed more courses than just the math requirement as part of pilot project that also saw de-streamed English, French and geography courses taught, she said.
“We got a head start planning and thinking and organizing our curriculum ahead of the ministry’s announcement that everything in Grade 9 would be de-streamed in 2022,” Giannacopoulos said. “That jumpstart allowed us to hire leads in six of our schools to represent compulsory subject areas to support teachers.
“We always could do more, when you consider the pandemic and labor action (in December and January of 2020). . . I think we have positioned ourselves in a great way.”
At the London District Catholic school board, education director Vince Romeo said the board looks at de-streaming as an extension of the single stream already taught in Grade 8 classrooms.
“We are transferring that learning to Grade 9,” he said. “De-streaming is based around student needs and student voice, and what do they need to get out of their course to help them be successful?”
The Education Ministry has been providing updates on what those single-stream courses will look like, he said.
”Professional learning for teachers will be continuously ongoing,” Romeo said.
Kidder adds the education sector has been under considerable stress in the last couple of years due to the pandemic and labor shortages.
“This year, one principal called it ‘a perfect storm of stress,’” she said. “I hope a lot more planning (for de-streaming) is happening this summer.”
Kidder reiterated her request that the Education Ministry appoint an education task force, so all stakeholders are represented as decisions are made.
“The impact of the pandemic is going to go on and it’s really important that we have everybody at the table with expertise and experience, providing advice to government.”