EQAO/OSSLT Information

OSSLT 2023

Successful completion of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a graduation requirement for all high school students in Ontario.  The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) measures whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across all subjects. The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is employing a computer-based online OSSLT to eligible students across the province. The assessment must be completed in person at the student’s school on a school board owned device.

Semester 2 2023 - Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) schedule and details

Information for Parent/Guardian(s) of Grade 10 Students or Eligible OSSLT Student:

Please see the general letter sent previously about the upcoming OSSLT. The link to this letter is here.

Some specific details about the schedule is below:

• Grade 10 students will be writing in the semester in which their ENGLISH CLASS falls. 

• A practice test for Grade 10 students with english in semester 2 will take place during their english class on the dates shown blow:
  -Samantha Leslies's classes: March 28-29
  -Lisa Broe's classes: March 29-30
  -Tania Costa's classes: March 30-31

• Students in Ms. Costa's ENG 2D1-04 and ENG 2D1-05 will be writing on April 4th and 5th in their classroom.

• Students in Ms. Leslie’s ENG2D1-06 and ENG2D15JJ1 will be writing on April 12th and 13th in their classroom.

• Students in Ms Broe's  ENG 2P1-02 will write on April 18th and 19th in their classroom.

• Eligible VSS students are scheduled to write on April 12th in the library and will receive a “save the date” to their HDSB email. This is scheduled for 8:30 am. 

• Grade 10 students who did not attempt the test in semester 1 and Grades 11, 12, 12+ eligible writers will be invited to write in one sitting on April 17th in the library. This is scheduled for 8:30 am. 

**Absence policy: Given this is a graduation requirement it must be the priority over and above other potential commitments on the assigned date. Should a student miss the writing of the OSSLT, another opportunity to write the assessment will not likely be possible until the 2023/2024 school year. 

Accommodations:

Every student will be provided the following accommodations if required:

• Quiet room to write and preferential seating

• Extra time

• Attention prompts

• Frequent breaks

• Text-to-speech and assistive tools for the text

The following accommodations will be provided based on individual student needs (as per the IEP and regularly-accessed accommodations throughout the school year):

• Scribing 

• Google Read & Write (text to speech and speech to text)

• Specialized assessment formats (e.g. braille, larger font, etc.) 

• Alternate test writing space (rather than in the assigned space) 

Please contact Kevin Dellio and/or Barbara Ball if your student requires any of the accommodations above. 

Mr. Kevin Dellio (delliok@hdsb.ca) 

Mrs. Barbara Ball (ballb@hdsb.ca)

Below is a list of resources for students to access in preparation for the OSSLT:

Literacy Lessons

OSSLT Practice Test

Student Tips Sheet

Slideshow-Preparing and Supporting Students for the OSSLT

For further inquiries please contact Christina Williams, Literacy Lead at williamsch@hdsb.ca or Andrea Dailey, Vice-Principal at daileya@hdsb.ca.