Ontario’s latest education proposal is quickly turning into one of the province’s most talked-about school debates, after the government announced plans to make classroom attendance and participation part of high school students’ final grades while also bringing back mandatory written exams. The move, introduced by Education Minister Paul Calandra as part of broader school governance reforms, has drawn a sharp mix of support, concern and frustration from students, parents and education experts who say the policy could have lasting consequences for academic fairness.
Under the proposed model, attendance and participation would count for 15 per cent of final grades in Grades 9 and 10, before dropping to 10 per cent in Grades 11 and 12. The province also wants to require final written exams on official exam days for students in Grades 9 through 12. The stated aim is to improve classroom management, tackle chronic absenteeism and give families clearer insight into how marks are calculated.
The attendance portion of the plan appears to be a direct response to the growing concern around students regularly missing school since the pandemic. Across many education systems, chronic absenteeism, typically defined as missing 10 per cent or more of the school year, has become a major problem. Ontario’s move signals that the government wants to use grading policy as a lever to push students back into consistent attendance patterns.
But the reaction from students has been far from straightforward. Teenagers interviewed in Toronto said they understood why attendance matters, yet many believed the proposed weight was simply too high. One Grade 12 student, Bilal Rahimi, described rushing back to school after missing classes while caring for a sick relative, saying attendance matters because students miss key material when they are absent. Even so, he and others questioned whether tying marks so heavily to physical presence would truly reflect academic performance.
That concern came through strongly from other students as well. Aglasha Favorova, also in Grade 12, argued that some students may miss classes but still perform extremely well on tests, assignments and exams. Another student, Sofiia Pidlisna, doubted the measure would even change the behavior of classmates who already skip regularly, pointing out that many of them are not especially motivated by grades to begin with. Their concerns reflect a broader tension at the heart of the policy: whether school marks should primarily measure mastery of material or be used to influence behavior.
Attendance, achievement gaps and the fairness question
Education researchers have been especially cautious about the proposal. Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, an education policy expert and associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, has argued that while attendance is indeed a strong indicator of student engagement and future outcomes, linking it directly to marks is not supported by the best available evidence on what actually improves attendance. In practice, policies like this can end up rewarding students who are already doing well while penalizing those facing deeper barriers.
That is where the fairness debate becomes most intense. Students with unstable home lives, caregiving responsibilities, mental health struggles or other personal challenges are often the same students most at risk of inconsistent attendance. If attendance becomes part of grading, they may not only miss class time but also lose marks for the absences themselves, widening performance gaps further. Critics say that dynamic turns grades into a punishment tool rather than a reflection of learning.
Gallagher-Mackay and others have argued that more effective approaches would include direct outreach to families, better support for struggling students, stronger classroom environments and school cultures that encourage students to attend because they feel supported and engaged. Those solutions, however, require staffing, time and investment. Critics see Ontario’s new proposal as a lower-cost symbolic response to a real problem, rather than a deeper structural fix.
Teachers’ representatives have raised similar concerns. Martha Hradowy, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said the real issue lies in rising student needs combined with fewer supports inside schools. From that perspective, tackling absenteeism means addressing class sizes, student well-being and mental health resources rather than simply adjusting grading rules.
Mandatory exams return as schools rethink post-pandemic learning
The return of mandatory final exams has added another layer to the controversy. During the height of COVID-19 disruptions, many schools across Canada either suspended or reduced final exams, shifting instead to projects, modular assessments, smaller tests and ongoing coursework. In some cases, those alternatives remained even after schools reopened, especially where educators felt they provided a fuller picture of student learning.
Ontario now wants to move back toward a more traditional exam-based structure. The government says written exams will help prepare students for post-secondary education and provide more transparency in grading. Supporters of the idea believe standardized exam periods can improve consistency and reinforce academic expectations.
Still, not everyone is convinced that bringing back mandatory exams is the right answer. Some parents worry that students who do poorly in high-pressure testing situations, including those with learning differences or anxiety, could be placed at a disadvantage. Others say schools should retain flexibility to evaluate students through different formats such as presentations, projects, written papers or digital assignments. Those methods, they argue, can measure understanding without relying so heavily on performance in a single moment.
The debate is also tapping into a larger post-pandemic question: what should school success look like now? For some, Ontario’s proposal represents a push back toward order, attendance and clearer academic rules. For others, it feels like a step backward at a time when students’ lives and learning needs have become more complex.
For now, the legislation remains a proposal, and many educators will be watching for more detail on implementation in the coming weeks. Questions remain over how attendance will be tracked, how participation will be measured fairly, what accommodations will exist for vulnerable students and how final exams will be structured across different subjects. As reported by CBC News, the government sees the move as a response to teacher concerns and a way to address absenteeism. But the pushback already shows that many Ontarians believe the deeper issues inside schools cannot be solved by grading changes alone.
That is what makes this more than just a classroom policy update. It has become a debate about what schools are supposed to reward, what fairness really means and whether stricter rules can rebuild habits that were weakened during the pandemic. Ontario may be trying to restore structure, but the strongest reaction so far suggests that students, parents and experts are not ready to accept that attendance marks and mandatory exams are the full answer.
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