Toronto District School Board Trustees voted to remove all entry exams and auditions to specialized schools and programs

BY PAUL JUNOR

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is wrestling with the tensions and challenges of admission to its specialized schools and programs. The TDSB has released a report to the Governance and Policy Committee titled, “Student Interest Programs: Specialized Schools and Programs Policy Review: Phase 5.” The executive summary of the report indicates that there would be the renaming of the Specialized Schools and Programs Policy to the new Student Interest Program to ensure that, “all students will have equitable access to both local and centralized programs that support their interest and success.

Work went into the development of these recommendations through extensive consultations and feedback with diverse community stakeholders that highlight the best practices, system data, and enrolment trends within the TDSB. It was intended that these recommendations were in alignment with its Multi-Year Strategic Plan, which has been operational since 2018. The purpose of the recommended change was, “Intended to address the decade-worth of data that consistently shows that not all students have benefitted equitably from our specialized programs.”

The report identified two tensions and challenges that resulted from the Secondary Program Review after extensive consultations in 2021 and 2022:

1. Tensions

• Admissions and programming based on ability vs. interest
• Specialized programming misaligned with Secondary Program Review

2. Challenges

• Specialized programming as a means of ‘upstreaming”
• Limitations of the current application process
• Renaming the programming

The report acknowledges that there are benefits to students from being enrolled in specialized programs but there are inherent obstacles that need to be overcome. It states, “We must now confront the barriers to access and ensure that all students have the same opportunities and the same access to those programs. As a result, the proposed policy aims to improve access and remove long-standing barriers while maintaining the same high quality and specialized education.”

The report highlights centralized programming and local programming as two areas that need to be improved to ensure accessibility and inclusivity. On Wednesday, May 25^th, 2022, TDSB’s trustees voted to accept the draft Student Interest Programs Policy as was presented on April 27^th, 2022.

This would ensure that all tests, exams, auditions, and grade entry requirements are removed as requirements for entry to these specialized schools and programs.