Grade 10 OSSLT

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) assesses the reading and writing skills included in the expectations of The Ontario Curriculum across all subjects up to the end of Grade 9. Successful completion of the Literacy Test is one of the thirty-two requirements of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). 

In the reading elements of the test, students use reading strategies to interact with a variety of narrative, informational and graphic reading selections to construct an understanding of the meaning of the texts. Students are asked to demonstrate their understanding of explicit (directly stated) and implicit (indirectly stated) meanings as well as to connect their understandings of the text to their personal experience and knowledge.

The writing elements of the OSSLT include a combination of multiple choice questions and short and long writing tasks. Through their responses to these questions and tasks, students demonstrate their ability to communicate ideas and information clearly and coherently.

EQAO reports results on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test only in terms of whether or not students were successful in meeting the standard established for the test rather than levels of student performance. In 2004, EQAO aligned the reading and writing standards of the OSSLT with a standard for a single literacy score. Students who successfully complete the assessment are advised, via the Individual Student Report, that they have passed the OSSLT. Schools are provided with the single literacy score for unsuccessful students, as well as additional information to enable students, teachers and parents to plan for improvement.

Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
Assessment results from the March 2006 administration of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) indicate a 2 percent increase in the number of Dufferin-Peel students who passed the test from the previous year, compared to 2 percent provincially. The results show that 86 percent of Dufferin-Peel students and 84 percent of students across the province who wrote the test for the first time passed the Literacy Test. Assessment results from the March 2006 administration of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) indicate a 2 percent increase in the number of Dufferin-Peel students who passed the test from the previous year, compared to 2 percent provincially. The results show that 86 percent of Dufferin-Peel students and 84 percent of students across the province who wrote the test for the first time passed the Literacy Test.

2006 OSSLT Board Report