A three-year plan to phase out academic streaming for Grade 9 and 10 students is among key changes being proposed by the head of the Toronto District School Board.The controversial practice of separating students into academic university-bound courses versus applied-level classes has led to “inequitable outcomes” and limited pupils’ options for the future, TDSB director John Malloy says in a new report.Research shows students in applied courses are less likely to graduate or attend post-secondary school, and that streaming disproportionately affects students who are Black and from poorer and marginalized communities. “Based on a three-year phased schedule, we will begin to support the majority of our students in academic level programming for Grades 9 and 10,” says the report, released Thursday.“It’s not about just changing a subject, but opening a pathway,” he added in an interview Friday.The destreaming plan is among many sweeping changes in response to recommendations from the board’s enhancing equity task force last fall.Malloy’s 27-page response will be reviewed Wednesday by the TDSB’s planning and priorities committee, who will also hear presentations from the public. It goes to the full board for approval on Feb. 7.The review of programs and policies at Canada’s largest school board was aimed at removing barriers faced by students as a result of such factors as race, socioeconomics or disability, and ensuring kids have equal access to supports and options. It includes changes affecting everything from teacher training to suspension policies, hiring policies and improving Black student achievement.Other key priorities outlined by Malloy include more integration of special education students in regular classrooms, while also maintaining congregated programs and schools for parents who think their children are better served in those settings.Malloy also reiterates an earlier commitment t ...
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