HIGHER EDUCATION QUALITY COUNCIL OF ONTARIO
Without Province-wide Data, School Boards Help Us Piece Together Pandemic Impacts on Student Pathways

HEQCO partnered with multiple Ontario school boards to understand how pandemic learning disruptions impacted postsecondary education (PSE) pathways.

Our work with the TDSB revealed impacts on student pathways were not as negative as some feared. Our partnerships with three school boards in Central-Eastern Ontario reinforced this finding while providing insight into regional differences. These boards did not see the same increases in graduation or PSE confirmations observed at the TDSB.

Instead, more students opted to take a fifth year of high school and several noted feeling unprepared in light of pandemic disruptions. Students with Special Education Needs saw increases in graduation rates and PSE confirmations in contrast to TDSB findings. These differences underscore the need for a provincial data infrastructure to help chart differential regional impacts of major disruptive forces.

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