Attendance at Ontario high schools has plummeted below 50 per cent, according to newly released data, as the province looks to reward students with marks for turning up to class.
As part of a new bill that includes an overhaul of school board governance, the Progressive Conservatives are planning to award students in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 a portion of their final mark for attending class.
It’s a measure Minister Paul Calandra said was suggested to him by teachers who are struggling with truancy and classroom control.
“It is an idea that came exclusively from my engagement with teachers; it wasn’t on my radar at all,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“I have to be honest with you, when I took over the position, I actually still thought attendance was part of the mark, and then I realized that for many, many years it had been taken out.”
Now, data from the government lays bare the extent of student absences, which have worsened substantially over the past decade.
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Ontario’s school boards consider students to be absent in some form if they miss 10 per cent or more of their classes. That’s a threshold where additional discipline is triggered.
Back in the 2017-18 school year, roughly 60 per cent of students in grades 9 to 12 were attending class at that level. That figure has fallen sharply to just 40 per cent in the 2024-25 year.
The decline worsened substantially when students returned to class after the pandemic. In 2021-22, 53 per cent of students in grades 9 to 12 were meeting the attendance requirements, which fell again to 36 per cent in 2022-23.
The following year saw a rate of 40.5 per cent, falling again to 40.2 per cent last year.
Attendance rates appear to worsen with age, a trend which remains broadly the same since the 2017-18 year. Figures for last year show that 46 per cent of students in Grade 9 met the threshold, 41 per cent in Grade 10 and 39 per cent in Grade 11.
Just 33 per cent of students in Grade 12 were in class 90 per cent of the time or more often.
Calandra said he was concerned the current assessment system allowed kids to skip class and still get high marks, while failing to acknowledge those who attend every lesson.
“One hundred per cent of their mark is based on coursework, so students can pop in and out as they like and their mark was not impacted at all,” he said on Tuesday.
“And at the same time, some kids were working really, really hard and there was no way to acknowledge their hard work as part of their marks.”
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation said the change was “low-hanging fruit” and said the government should make broader investments to encourage students to spend more time in school.
“I would rather that the government funded the system properly so that we wouldn’t be seeing these gaps in attendance at all,” Malin Leahy, vice president with the union, said.
As an emergency supply teacher with TDSB between 2023 and 2025 I can provide another reason why student absenteeism is so high: teacher absenteeism. An emergency supply teacher at secondary school is not asked to “teach” but to relay work assigned by the teacher off work (if any notes left behind) and to monitor the classroom. Many grade 12 students when they would see they had an emerg supply teacher would simply decide to go home since “they would not be learning anything in the classroom anyway”. I also witnessed many grade 12 classes canceled (notes on classroom doors for students to do independent study in the library or cafeteria) because no supply teacher was available. The principal at one school explained to me that when they did not have enough supply teachers to cover classrooms, grade 12 classes were canceled first since they are the most mature students and can work independently better. I was appalled at how many of my own daughter’s classes were canceled in her final year – the year she was working toward university acceptance! For three years in a row I requested data on teacher absenteeism from the TDSB via my trustee but was never provided the information. I would be more interested in teacher absenteeism stats than student absenteeism stats at this time.
Regarding school attendance, marks on each separate subject should be taken from the course score. Maybe a bonus few marks for attending fully.
I’m afraid lack of attendance is directly related to a generation of entitled students. NOT all of course. But even some kids are pulled toward behavior of others. Hence, more missing students. Scores must corolate with attendance.
I’d be interested to know if there’s a correlation between the introduction of the TDSB’s current attendance tracking system and the decline in student attendance. In my experience as a parent of a high schooler, the attendance system frequently incorrectly reports absences (eg student returns late after lunch, but is recorded absent for the afternoon).
The schools should be prepared for a steady stream of parent calls if this inaccurate system is still in place when they start docking marks for missing classes.
If you want to succeed in life you have to show up.
Underfunded schools should not be catering to the individual needs of chronically absent students.
Rather, the student must ensure they conform to the very expensive educational system freely available to them.
In a video I saw it said if they miss 10% of the class they are considered absent.
For an hour class that’s 6 minutes.
If they want mandatory attendance they should allow students to drop out before 18 or graduation.
The fact is the kids struggling with this kind of things likely won’t choose academic fields and if they do they can start as a mature student.
This isn’t actually helpful to kids, and what are they learning?
Do classes still start at 7am? I just don’t even understand what’s happening in education.
Schooling in general has declined over the decades. Are kids nowadays better off educationally than those from the past? Not likely!
I recall when my youngest son was in grade six (2005) and when I was at parent teacher interviews, the teacher advised me that he hadn’t submitted some assignments, she has to move him up to the front from the back because he was being disruptive. So I told her, that if he didn’t pull up his socks and get his act together, then fail him! The look on her face when I said that was one of shock. At that time, she told me the school boards don’t allow the students to be failed. It wasn’t good for their overall psyche. My rebuttal was, so push students thru the system like cattle and by the time they graduate secondary school, they can’t read, write or do basic arithmetic. How’s that good for their psyche??
Nowadays, students go to school for ten months, of which at least thirty plus days are holidays and PA days. That doesn’t include snow days in the north or days buses aren’t running, then likely kids will stay home because they don’t have a ride.
My point is that kids today are less educated than in my years growing up and going to school. You didn’t perform, you failed!! And those friends of mine who did went on to be successful people in life. We’re teaching our children that it’s okay not to go to work or do your job and that there will be no repercussions.
The future of these youngsters doesn’t look promising.
High School attendance at problematic levels, School Board and Government who caused the problems leading to this issue decide to penalize kids instead of fixing issues.
Time for a change
Policies are too liberal
Attendance is important but is missing some key situations that no child should be docked for. There are lots of kids with actual illnesses that lead to missed days due to illness or medical appointments. How about poverty where older kids become caretakers for younger siblings when they are sick and parents have to work, it’s not right but that’s the reality of our society to make ends meet. How about look at the statistics of how many highschool kids are working to provide for their families. Lets address the societal causes please and not just punish these kids, preventing them from higher education to make things worse. Making higher education even less attainable. You’ll just increase the drop out rates and call it a day saying you fixed attendance scores for kids enrolled. Address the root cause vs using punishments that will only disadvantage further.
I hear a lot of whining about how young people are having a hard time finding a job. The absolute bare minimum requirement of success in the workplace is showing up every day ready to work. That is just kindergarden-level common sense. Why would anyone hire somebody that is too dumb to figure that out?
Why get indoctrinated, I mean educated in a country where crime pays, corruption is the game and paying people to stay at home playing video games using legal drugs has become an occupation, with great benefits too!
They really should be looking at why students don’t want to attend. Why do they not feel motivated to attend class? The teaching methods have definitely not kept up with the times. We are doing students a disservice by not investigating the reasons for low attendance.
Grand idea. Let’s see what this little experiment does to graduation rates.
Has anyone actually spoken to the kids or is this a ‘be quiet, the grown ups are speaking’ situation?
Is attendance a problem? Yes.
Does anyone actually believe penalizing kids for things outside of their control makes sense? Or is this just another cop out by a cop out government?
Has the relevancy of the curriculum been assessed in light of the shifting job market (in decades)? Perhaps adults aren’t paying attention but kids are.
Are they now supposed to go to school when they’re sick? Or will they be exempt with a doctor’s note? Will there be an increase in doctor availability or is that filed conveniently under ‘not our problem’?
Are educational supports going to be made available for kids who are already struggling? Or is that a ‘not our problem’, too?
Student mental health? Not our problem.
Routine cancellations of bus routes due to lack of drivers? Not our problem.
Ontario education: it’s just not our problem.
Perhaps we should cut the ministry of education and use the money for something relevant and actually supportive to our children.
Of course attendance is down. These kids are working jobs to help their parents stay afloat. The problem is our government making other countries their priority of our own. Full offensive intended when I say I could care less about Sudan when we have so many problems here. Education, health care, employment, homelessness, subanstance addiction, uncared for Canadian veterans. But hey let’s worry about people half a world away before our own.
Believe it or not, increasing funding is NOT the answer to all the problems in Education. It certainly won’t improve student attendance. As a high school teacher who has taught for over 25 years, I can tell you many kids treat attendance as ‘optional’. The reason why they may still have good grades while not attending is because the whole system is too lenient. Skipped my test? No problem, make it up when you feel ready? Missed a deadline? That’s ok as long as you hand it in by the end of the semester.
Zero accountability. I am ok with marks for attendance…it’s a start.
The anti-teacher trolls are in full force here.
The system is broken due to lack of govt money for support for the kids and teachers.
Teachers are attacked every day with no repercussions.
Most kids now do everything with ChatGP and have stopped any critical thinking.
The classrooms are often unteachable due to abusive/uncontrollable children that need support but govt wont pay for it.
Teachers are not teaching but rather surviving.
The regular kids are losing out due to the daily disruptions by kids who cannot control their emotions.
Schools are not allowed to discipline students because of parents complaining they need to work not monitor their disruptive kids if they get suspended.
Govt needs to put serious money into every classroom with support staff for each class not just a few for the whole school.
Maybe hockey tournaments etc will go back to starting on Saturdays rather than Thursdays/Fridays as is so common now if attendance was so important to parents.
Bob smith. Teachers are paid plenty enough. Based on this article the classrooms are not full so they are being overpaid already.
Why attend a school that is basically teaching a political agenda. Science is no longer based on truth and history is being changed to make certain parties happy.
I would challenge the numbers. He actual said teachers asked for this? That might be the first time they have actually listened to teachers since they have been in power if it was actually true.
Lack of attendance is a sure sign the courses are too easy and high marks are still given. Toughen up the course content so that missing a class means struggling to keep up. And give demanding exams where cheating is impossible, such as essays written 100% in class in an exam booklet with nothing except some sharp pencils and an erasure.
Are you trying to get kids to sit in class or are you trying to get kids to learn?
If they can miss over 10% of class time and still get high marks, what’s the problem? Or are we leaning into the narrative that high school is just advanced day care?
I hated high school. Classes were so slow. So boring. I finished my AP classes early January in Gr12, and then spent far fewer days at school because I just didn’t need to be there for the remaining classes. Still managed to clear an “A” average.
Pay teachers more, make the curriculum more interesting, more relevant, and more challenging. Stop passing anyone with a pulse. Stop bending over backwards to parents. Simple. Kids don’t want to be there? Fine. Who cares. They should already be well aware of the risk of automation and AI taking entry level jobs. If that doesn’t drive a desire to learn… meh.
Lol they meet the grades but dont attend. I was one of these students in the 90s. The problem is there was no track for intelligent students, just punishment to fit into the system to prepare you to be a corporate drone
What’s the problem, whether they are sitting in class or not, if they are still passing and as the article says getting high marks. Isn’t the point to pass the course or is it to sit there and be bored and take an hour class when you could get through it yourself in 30 minutes.
Well with all the cuts made by the Ford government what do u expect. what’s the point of going to school if you can’t get a job. maybe the government should stop slashing budgets and let our children and generations after have a future
So what are all these teachers complaining about “overcrowded classrooms” and “impossible workloads” all about then if a mere 40% if students actually show up?
These issues soznd about as valid as the myth of underpaid overworked teachers who earn a median salary of $100,000 for working an average of 194 days per year (according to Ont. govt statistics )
So what’s the real issue here ?
Of course there was the obligatory ‘spend more money’ comment from the union. Teachers are being replaced with ipads running AI. And the AI’s monitor participation. The future is not giving students free marks for showing up in classrooms. The faculty is running scared the profession is collapsing.
Whatever happened to having truent officers kids were afraid of them and complied
Long past due. While I was a teacher, missed classes were a constant issue especially for multi day, in school projects. When the govt took away marks being part of the unit mark, it just created another issue without any way to address it. How can you grade a mark where a ‘demonstration of understanding’ is part of the mark when the student does the work at home?
School isn’t about learning it’s about teaching obedience and learning compliance. Exactly what the government wants, compliance…
Those that make the rules, don’t care about anyone’s future but their own. Why would anyone be surprised? Teach the real world, not the free world fantasy of the 50s
Does anybody else see the problem with argument? If 100% of your mark is contingent on your work and the students are STILL passing then the only people really being effected by this low attendance are the overpriced teachers and administrators who haven’t got the memo….”you’re becoming obsolete”
More people in Canada are home schooling now. The public education system has become an absolute circus. Learning is no longer the objective there. It’s all about the brainwashing, and parents are fed up.
You MUST speak the truth when writing articles for public consumption, or you will be called out. We the people have had enough.
Making attendance non mandatory for driver’s licence testing, obviously it will work out fine for everyone with education as well!
If that many kids are not attending class, and still getting good grades, I would be inclined to say that this is a curriculum issue, not nothing more. Why are you suggesting that the kids get punished for working independently? And why should kids that must attend class to learn be rewarded for requiring more help or supervision?
If those students are still getting passing grades then sitting through class is clearly unnecessary and forcing them to do that will only make them unhappy and do worse because of it. I’m personally more concerned with the literacy rate and how teachers justify their salary when a measurable percentage of those kids in high school don’t pass a literacy exam.
Why are these students not attending school? Wherr are the parents?
Anon is a muppet.
Stay in school or you may become a Conservative !
Maybe if they had teachers that strictly taught the class they were assigned to or more substitute teachers.My son has teachers that are either coach’s or something else and go on field trips leaving his class to spend it in the cafeteria doing nothing.
This is bit of a red herring, I think.
He suggests that some kids are working hard and that is not reflected in their marks.
What does that have to do with attendance?
The goal does not seem to be to address any sort of cause of low at
who are these soft parents that are allowing their kids to miss so much school?
when I was that age, my folks would have kicked my ass for missing so much school!
Maybe change from the indoctrinated curriculum and TEACH OUR CHILDREN, not try to produce an easily manipulated confused, entitled, weak generation.
One of the things taught in school is that you have to be punctual, attend to graduate. Same thing needed for work. No wonder employers have difficulty. The students have been trained that they can get the reward, even if they do not work. Just being capable is enough. – it need to be part of the mark.
Malin is totally wrong, not everything can be solved by just spending more. She is part of the problem. Unions support workers based on seniority, rather than workers being kept and rewarded for productivity and effort. This is not in the best interests of the students.
Maybe if we didn’t have elitist teachers, with one sided political views kids would show up. Teachers are supposed to be unbiased.
Damn straight they should get marks for attending. What if you just did your job from home and didn’t show up to work? What would happen… You’d get fired. What do you get when you show up for your job everyday… Money! Why do you think we ticket people when they do bad things? We don’t just give them a slap on the wrist, we ding them with money! Hit them where it hurts so to speak right? Students need to be graded on attendance. I’m a professor in college, where as well we can’t grade on attendance. I find ways that if students show up they get the better grade than the students that never show up. Just telling the students that the classrooms are better isn’t going to get them in there. They need accountability as much as everyone else needs accountability. Why are we not teaching them this in school? Why are we letting them come out into the real world to go, Oh geez, I didn’t know we had to go to this everyday. Like are you for real?
The ultimate in wokism – reward participation rather than achievement
Pathetic!
Import the third world, get third world schools lmao
So he states that some students skip class and get high marks, and other students work “really, really hard” without having that work acknowledged. But he also states that 100% of their mark is based on coursework.
Is he really trying to say that attending school is “hard work”? If students are getting high marks and skipping class, they’re obviously also doing the “really, really hard work” required for the coursework based marks, making school attendance irrelevant.
Attendance in a building teaches social norms and reinforces non-hybrid workplace models. Classroom models of education are one size fits all – obviously some students do not require it to succeed.
Make school more interesting so kids want to attend.