Literacy Graduation Requirements for Online Private School Students

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) measures whether students are meeting the minimum standard for literacy across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9. Successful completion of the literacy test is one of the requirements to earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma.

All students are required to meet the secondary school literacy graduation requirement in order to earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). Most students complete this requirement by successfully completing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), an online assessment that must be administered in person.

Students Residing in Ontario:

Students who reside in Ontario and take courses online through an inspected Ontario private school must take the OSSLT.
Schools may arrange for students to take the OSSLT in the following ways:

1) They may take the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) onsite at the inspected Ontario online private school if the school has the facilities for students to come onsite or if the student lives within proximity to the school; or
2) They may take the OSSLT onsite at another inspected Ontario private school or public school. Schools will need to make arrangements using the GUEST student instructions.

For more information, please go to official website https://www.eqao.com/the-assessments/osslt/

The OSSLT is a computer-based assessment that comprises two 60 minutes sessions (Session A and Session B) containing a total of 33 questions: 31 multiple-select questions (e.g., multiple-choice, drag and drop, drop-down menu, checklist, text selection) and two constructed open-response questions. The OSSLT uses a test let-based linear on-the-fly (tLOFT) design. In this method, test forms are generated in real time through the selection of pre-constructed and pre-equated groups of questions and, where applicable, the associated reading selections.

All students in Grades 10 and 11 and non-graduating students, including those who are learning remotely, must work toward the literacy graduation requirement by participating in the OSSLT or completing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC).

Parents and/or principals may decide it is in a student's best interest to defer writing the test until a later date. For example, an ESL student may need more time to develop language skills before writing the test.

Students may retake the test the following year. For graduating students, the best option is to take the Grade 12 Literacy Course and receive direct instruction in needed areas while earning an additional credit towards graduation.


Students Residing Outside of Ontario

To meet the literacy graduation requirement, students who reside outside of Ontario may enrol directly into the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) without attempting the OSSLT.



Where to write OSSLT


We organize the OSSLT test administration every year for students whose Ontario Student Record (OSR) is held at Toronto eSchool. The test can be written online at Toronto eSchool Campus in Toronto. Students may also write the test at an alternative location in our affiliated school. The test must be supervised by a suitable official who satisfies the requirements outlined by EQAO.

The administration fee for writing the OSSLT test at Toronto eSchool campus is $250 per student. The fee for writing the test at an alternative location is $399 per student.



Please contact guidance@torontoeschool.com with any inquiries regarding the OSSLT.