On April 22, 2024, students in Grades 10 and some grade 11 students will participate in the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). The OSSLT is administered province-wide by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). It is used to determine whether a student has the literacy skills required to meet the standard expected by The Ontario Curriculum for understanding and creating various text forms across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9. Successful completion of this test or the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) is a requirement for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSLD).

The EQAO results are a snapshot of trends in student learning, which are useful to consider when talking about ways to support a student’s success. The results can be considered alongside other information, such as report cards and classroom assessments, to help understand how a student is meeting The Ontario Curriculum expectations in reading and writing.

The online test allows all students to have access to a variety of accessibility tools, including a text-to-speech function that reads aloud the text on the screen. These tools are available directly on the student toolbar in the e-assessment platform. Students may wish to become familiar with these tools by taking the practice test found on EQAO’s website: www.eqao.com

The OSSLT is organized into Session A and Session B, with a short introductory session at the beginning and a questionnaire session at the end.

Script for Session A:

• Should take approximately 65 minutes
• It will contain 25 reading and writing questions.
• Once submitted you will no longer have access to the test

Script for Session B:

• Should take approximately 75 minutes.
• If you finish early, review your work and check that you have not missed any question
• Once submitted you will no longer have access to the test
• A questionnaire will be opened for you to complete at the end of session B. It asks you about your attitudes and perceptions with respect to literacy.

If you have any questions or concerns your child will receive, please contact me or your child’s English teacher.

Abraar School OSSLT – Be ready!

OSSLT Preparation Session:  April 5 & 12, 2024The Basics: The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT)

Who? All Grade 10 and 11 students, and previously eligible students who haven’t commpleted the literacy test.

What? It’s a provincial literacy (reading and writing) test that you need to take and pass to graduate.

Where? The classroom to which you are assigned

When?  Monday, April 22, 2024,_ Be on time!! There’s no extra time for late-comers.

Why? You need to get your literacy requirement to graduate.

How? Read the rest of this handout for lots of tips about how to be prepared.

What’s on the test?

1. For READING, you need to be able to:
2. Understand direct information (“The weather was very cold.”)
3. Understand indirect information (“The girl shivered in her thin coat, as she waited for the bus.”)
4. Understand connections (in this story, it suggests that the extreme cold may have led to the unsafe decision she made later)

• What reading selections are included on the test? They vary in length from a single paragraph to two pages.

• What types of reading tasks do students complete? The test has short- and long-writing tasks, and multiple-choice questions that focus on three writing skills required in school and daily life:
• developing a main idea with sufficient supporting details;
• organizing information and ideas in a coherent manner and
• using conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation) in a manner that does not distract from clear communication.

What types of writing tasks do students complete? One of the tasks is writing a news report based on a picture and headline provided. Students make up facts and information to answer the questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? and write a one-page report on the event.

• The audience is an adult reader of a newspaper.
• The other long-writing task is a series of paragraphs expressing an opinion on a given topic. Students develop a main idea with supporting details (proof, facts, examples, etc.) and write a minimum of three paragraphs on the two pages provided for the response. The audience is an adult who is interested in the opinion provided.
• The short (paragraph) writing tasks give the student the opportunity to use his/her knowledge and personal experience while demonstrating his/her writing skills.
• The multiple-choice questions give you the opportunity to demonstrate the three writing skills.

• For WRITING, you need to be able to:
• Develop a main idea by providing enough supporting details.
• Organize your idea into a clear and logical order.
• Use correct spelling and grammar—it does NOT have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough that someone reading it can understand what you mean.