Grade 13 could be making a comeback for a limited time, in Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca’s new plan

Grade 13 would return temporarily under Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca | TheRecord.com

n”,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”aodaTitle”:”Local students lean on extra year more than most”,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”},{“text”:”He criticized the current Conservative government for forcing mandatory online learning during the pandemic, and the plan to continue with online courses — a decision Del Duca called “unconscionable.””,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”“Teachers have to teach our kids, but they also have to be able to reach our kids,” he said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“type”:”slimcut”},{“text”:”Del Duca said he didn’t know how many students may choose the optional fifth year, but he said many have fallen behind after missing months of in-person learning. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”Bringing back Grade 13 may be a popular option in Waterloo Region, where students take longer to earn high school diplomas than most in the province.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”Students graduating from the Waterloo Region District School Board attend an extra year of high school at twice the Ontario rate. One out of seven students who earned a diploma from the public board in 2020 had to study past Grade 12 — compared to one in 15 graduating students across Ontario who took longer than four years.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“type”:”relatedStories”,”relatedStories”:[]},{“snippet”:”

n”,”heading”:””,”fullWindow”:false,”fullBleed”:false,”showFullBleedOnMobile”:false,”headColor”:””,”type”:”html5mobile”,”textColor”:””,”mobileImageUrl”:””,”bgColor”:””,”imageUrl”:””,”registeredOnly”:false,”linkUrl”:””,”aodaTitle”:”Where do students need an extra year to graduate? chart”,”internalScroll”:false,”displayStyle”:”small-up”},{“type”:”cta”,”buttonText”:”Sign Up Now”,”buttonLink”:”/newsletters-signup.html?nsrc=article-inline-covid”,”description”:”Never miss the latest news from The Record, including up-to-date coronavirus coverage, with our email newsletters.”,”title”:”Get the latest in your inbox”},{“text”:”That’s not the case at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, which aligns more closely with the province in successfully graduating students in four years.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”Del Duca also promised to cancel the “reckless and frankly dangerous” Highway 413 project that Premier Doug Ford is “obsessed with” and invest some of that $10 billion instead in building new schools and repairing old ones. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”NDP Leader Andrea Horwath criticized the education record of the Liberals, who were in power from 2003-2018, pointing to the closure of hundreds of schools, ballooned classroom sizes, frozen wages for educators, a repair backlog for schools, and reduced funding, including for special needs students. Then the situation got worse with huge cuts by the Conservatives, Horwath said. “,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”“Andrea Horwath will fix what the Liberals and PCs broke, by reversing Ford’s cuts, clearing the school repair backlog the Liberals left behind, and hiring 20,000 educators,” a news release said.”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“type”:”textBreakPoint”,”insertAt”:”contentEndBreakPoint”},{“text”:”With files from Jeff Outhit”,”type”:”text”,”isParagraph”:true,”isHeading”:false},{“text”:”

Johanna Weidner

is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on health and education for the Record. Reach her via email:

jweidner@therecord.com

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Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca speaks during a press conference at a campaign stop in Kitchener on Friday. The Liberal leader pledged to introduce an optional Grade 13 for students left behind in the pandemic. Students who need to ‘catch up’ after disruption to in-class learning would be able to opt for a full, extra final year of high school By Johanna WeidnerRecord Reporter

Fri., May 6, 2022timer3 min. read

updateArticle was updated 1 hr ago

KITCHENER — Grade 13 would be an option for students needing to catch up from the pandemic’s disruption to classroom learning if Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca is elected on June 2.

“A lot of our kids have fallen backwards,” said Del Duca, who was in Kitchener on Friday morning to release his party’s education platform. “We don’t even have an adequate way to measure what the learning impact has been during COVID.”

Along with the optional fifth year of high school, the $295-million plan promises smaller class sizes, new schools and mental-health supports that children need in the aftermath of the “chaos” caused by COVID-19.

The fifth year of high school would be a choice for those students who aren’t yet ready for college or university or to join the workforce. Del Duca stressed it’s a new approach and not simply a return to the “victory lap” scrapped decades ago.

“I suspect that you’ll see other provinces realize that this is the way to go.”

The “enhanced” Grade 13 would be offered for at least four years, giving all students in high school this coming year the option.

“This is going to be a structured option for our kids,” Del Duca said. “Structured so that they can get more mental-health support, so that they can learn more about personal finances, so that they can learn more about civics and citizen engagement and all of the tools they need to be able to catch up from the past couple of years and be set up for success, heading off to post-secondary or their future careers,” Del Duca said.

The Liberal plan includes a major hiring boom: 10,000 teachers, 5,000 special-education workers, and 1,000 mental-health professionals for students and staff.

Del Duca also promises 200 new schools, repairs to more than 4,500 schools, an expanded student nutrition program that would serve a free breakfast to any student who needs one, and an end to streaming and the standardized EQAO tests.

Classrooms would be capped at 20 students for both elementary and secondary schools.

He criticized the current Conservative government for forcing mandatory online learning during the pandemic, and the plan to continue with online courses — a decision Del Duca called “unconscionable.”

“Teachers have to teach our kids, but they also have to be able to reach our kids,” he said.

Del Duca said he didn’t know how many students may choose the optional fifth year, but he said many have fallen behind after missing months of in-person learning.

Bringing back Grade 13 may be a popular option in Waterloo Region, where students take longer to earn high school diplomas than most in the province.

Students graduating from the Waterloo Region District School Board attend an extra year of high school at twice the Ontario rate. One out of seven students who earned a diploma from the public board in 2020 had to study past Grade 12 — compared to one in 15 graduating students across Ontario who took longer than four years.

That’s not the case at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, which aligns more closely with the province in successfully graduating students in four years.

Del Duca also promised to cancel the “reckless and frankly dangerous” Highway 413 project that Premier Doug Ford is “obsessed with” and invest some of that $10 billion instead in building new schools and repairing old ones.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath criticized the education record of the Liberals, who were in power from 2003-2018, pointing to the closure of hundreds of schools, ballooned classroom sizes, frozen wages for educators, a repair backlog for schools, and reduced funding, including for special needs students. Then the situation got worse with huge cuts by the Conservatives, Horwath said.

“Andrea Horwath will fix what the Liberals and PCs broke, by reversing Ford’s cuts, clearing the school repair backlog the Liberals left behind, and hiring 20,000 educators,” a news release said.

With files from Jeff Outhit

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