All policies may be modified at any time. The use of the Online OSSD program indicates that the student and/or parent/guardian accept these aforementioned policies.
Student enrollment Policy
Course Prerequisite Policy: Certain courses require the student to have completed a prerequisite course. It is the student’s responsibility to provide a copy of an Ontario Student Transcript, Report Card or Credit Counseling Summary showing successful completion of the prerequisite course.
This document should be sent to the course administrator upon registration. A student may register at any time and, upon registration, will have access to the first unit of a course.
However, the rest of the content will remain locked until prerequisite evidence has been provided.
If the student has not completed the prerequisite course but has completed an equivalent course outside of Ontario, is a mature student, or has higher-level education, the student may request that Online OSSD waive the prerequisite requirement by submitting a Prerequisite Waiver Application to the Online OSSD Guidance Team before registering.
Cancellation Policy
The online OSSD program does not issue refunds. Within hours of enrollment, our administration undertakes many tasks including activating the student account, completing the enrollment, contracting the teacher, establishing electronic/physical files, tracking the enrollment for Ministry purposes, etc. Even if the student does not begin the course, the preliminary work in our office will be completed.
Course Transfer Policy
Transfer: A student has the option to transfer from one course to another by the second week of the course. * If a student transfers into a new course, the completion date will not refresh.
The student will be required to complete the new course within the original course deadline, based on the enrollment date of the original course. If a student requests a transfer, an administrative fee will apply. This fee may range from $49 – $304 CAD depending on the circumstances.
*Transfers will not be available to a student who has completed more than three assessments or to a student who has extended the course past the initial course deadline.
Attendance Policy
Students are free to log-in and work on their course material at their own pace. Courses are designed to take 110 hours to complete and all course assignments, including the final exam, must be completed within 2 months from the start of enrolment.
Regular attendance at school is critical for the student’s learning and achievement of course expectations. Where, in the principal’s judgment, a student’s frequent absences from school are jeopardizing his or her successful completion of a course, school staff will arrange to meet with the student and the parents to explain the potential consequences of the absences, including failure to gain credits, and discuss steps that could be taken to improve attendance. A meeting or online conference, with all stakeholder, will be scheduled as soon as possible to ascertain the cause of the absence from the course.
If a student fails to attend his or her course and does not participate in the planned online activities, the student, who is under 18 years of age, and the parent(s) of the student, will be contacted by the school principal. A meeting or online conference, with all stakeholder, will be scheduled as soon as possible to ascertain the cause of the absence from the course.
Students are expected to log in three times each week, not including scheduled holidays, for the entire duration of the course. If a student fails to log in to his or her course three times in a single week then an absence will be recorded on the report card.
School Admin will track students’ attendance via the LMS. If admin finds the students are not attending classes for a period of time, school admin will send an absent notice to the student via email. If the student does not reply to admin in 72 hours, the student will be marked as “MIA Student” in the LMS. The student then would not have access to the course material.
The online school principal and teacher would track the students’ course progress on a bi-weekly basis. The progress report will be sent to the admin team to follow up with the students, agents, parents, or student guidance.
Plagiarism Policy
Growing Success Policy
Students must understand that the tests/exams they complete and the assignments they submit for evaluation must be their work and that cheating, and plagiarism will not be condoned.
The school will develop strategies for helping students understand the gravity of such behavior and the importance of acknowledging the work of others. The school will also develop policies that address, at a minimum, the following:
- Prevention of cheating and plagiarizing
- Detection of incidents of cheating and plagiarizing
- Consequences for students who cheat or plagiarize
Policies will reflect a continuum of behavioral and academic responses and consequences, based on at least the following four factors:
- The grade level of the student,
- The maturity of the student,
- The number and frequency of incidents, and
- The individual circumstances of the student.
To the Student
When the teacher asks you to use your own words and ideas, it means that you should use your own words and your ideas. You must demonstrate to the teacher that you can submit work that is your own. When a teacher asks to put your ideas into your own words, it does not mean that there is a correct answer for the assignment. It means that you must come up with your ideas to give to the teacher.
Plagiarism means submitting work to the teacher that is not your own. Cheating and plagiarism will not be condoned. When you take ideas and words that are someone else’s and pass them off as yours, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism can involve some of these:
- Using work done by another student.
- Copying someone else’s work or homework.
- Taking another student’s work and changing some words.
- Cutting and pasting material from the Internet and submitting it as yours.
- Copying information from a book, magazine, website, movie, etc. and not naming the source.
- Leaving out quotation marks for direct quotes.
To the Teacher
Help students avoid plagiarising by:
- Defining the term and reminding them of it when setting out an assignment.
- Giving them examples of what constitutes plagiarism.
- Emphasizing the importance of using process skills to arrive at a product.
- Teaching them research skills so they can avoid plagiarising: note-taking, paraphrasing, summarizing.
- Teaching them organizational skills: finding and organizing information to build an understanding of a topic.
- Teaching them how to outline a report or research essay.
- Having them keeps a learning log to reflect on what they learned through the process: how to research and organizational skills helped with the project, how could the product be improved, how can the research and organizational skills be improved.
- Assessing the process steps: notes, outline, summary, bibliography, drafts, etc.
- Informing students of the consequences of plagiarism.
Consequences
- When plagiarism has been detected, the teacher should discuss the matter with the student and inform the principal of the details.
- The student receives zero for the assignment because the student has not demonstrated achievement of the expectations for the assignment.
- There might be other opportunities for the student to demonstrate evidence of achievement of the expectations of the assignment (e.g. research, organizational, presentation skills) during the course. If other opportunities arise, the teacher may choose not to factor in zero for the plagiarized assignment in the calculation of the term mark.
Appeal
A student may appeal to the teacher’s decision to the principal after a discussion with the teacher.
Based on Fresh Air: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Secondary Schools
Toronto District School Board, 2006
Confidentiality Policy
Please note that online OSSD may communicate with parents or legal guardians of students under the age of 18. Besides, Online OSSD will communicate with any student’s home school and applicable post-secondary institutions or organizations. Students over the age of 18 will receive an email upon registration requesting permission to allow Online OSSD to communicate with third-party individuals.
Through the Online OSSD website, you will have access to third-party organizations, such as Examity and GradeSlam. Only basic information, such as your name and Online OSSD email address, is shared with these organizations to access and use their services. By accessing the websites or platforms of any third- party organization through the Online OSSD portal, you are agreeing to the policies and procedures of that organization.
Late and Missed Assignments
Students are responsible for providing evidence of their achievement of the overall expectations within the time frame specified -by the teacher; and in a form- approved -by the teacher. There are consequences for not completing assignments for evaluation or for submitting those assignments late.
The Ministry requires teachers to separate evaluation of the achievement of the curriculum expectations from the development of learning skills and work habits (Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative, Self-Regulation).
Students submit work late for many reasons and teachers should take time to understand the reason for a late assignment. Reasons could include:
- Legitimate explanation
- Poor time-management skills
- Poor academic skills
- Poor understanding of the assignment
Teacher Responsibilities
Students should be expected to submit work on time. The teacher must inform students of the due date of an assignment and the ultimate deadline, which is the last opportunity for students to submit the assignment for evaluation.
This deadline is set at the teacher’s discretion. Teachers may deduct marks for late submissions. Normally the deduction should not exceed 20% of the value of the assignment.
Where in the teacher’s professional judgment it is appropriate to do so, several strategies may be used to help prevent and/or address late and missed assignments.
Missed Evaluations
Students who do not submit assignments may be given zero. A mark of zero will normally result in a gap in the record of achievement of curriculum expectations because the teacher lacks evidence of the student’s knowledge or skills.
The student might have missed tests, not handed in assignments, or might have been absent for presentations. Students are responsible for providing the teacher with evidence of their learning.
