Online Learning Graduation Requirement

About the online learning graduation requirement:

Students are required to earn two online learning credits to graduate from secondary school, beginning with

every student who entered Grade 9 in the 2020-21 school year. Adult learners entering the Ontario

secondary school system in 2023-24 or later will be required to meet this graduation requirement and may

opt themselves out of the requirement. The graduation requirement is intended to support students in

developing familiarity and comfort with working and learning in a fully online environment, as well as

developing digital literacy and other important transferable skills that will help prepare them for success after

graduation and in all aspects of their lives.

Meeting the online learning graduation requirement should not pose a barrier to graduation for students. As

with all learning, students taking online courses will have access to the support they need through their

school, (e.g., guidance, nutrition programs, extra-curricular activities and services for English-language

learners). If a student in a publicly funded school has an Individual Education Plan, the plan should be

shared, when appropriate, with an educator instructing an online course delivered by another publicly

funded school board, with the necessary consent.

Parents/guardians may choose to opt their child out of the mandatory online courses required for

graduation. Students aged 18 years of age or older or students who are 16 or 17 years of age and have

withdrawn from parental control can also opt out of the graduation requirement. School boards must also

allow for students and parents/guardians to opt back into the online learning graduation requirement should

their decision change.

Process to opt out:

To opt out online:

• Parents or Students who are 18 or older may complete this online form.

To opt out in person:

• Parents or Students who are 18 or older can download, print and sign the Opt-Out Form and take it to the school office.

• Parents or Students who are 18 or older  can obtain an Opt-Out Form from the school office.  Sign it and return it to the school.

To opt back in

• Contact the school office by telephone