Online Courses Required

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The Canadian province of Ontario is mandating that high school students complete two online courses as a graduation requirement. This requirement places Ontario at the forefront of the movement to require online courses for high school students since the other districts with an online requirement typically require only one online course.

Not everyone is supportive of the online requirement with teachers unions raiseing concerns about the quality of online courses and the suitability of online learning for students with different needs or those with limited network access. This opposition influenced the Ontario government to back away from an initial proposal to require four online courses for graduation.

The requirement will take effect for students entering ninth grade in the fall of 2020. Even without the requirement Ontario schools currently offer 130 online courses that enroll about 60,000 students annually or about 5% of Ontario students. Online enrollment has been growing so the move to online courses seems clear and sustained.

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