Ottawa high schoolers, take note: skipping class is about to cost more than a missed lesson.
Starting in the 2026-27 school year, Ontario will require attendance and participation to count toward final grades in high school, a change first flagged by local news account @shottawa.tv on Instagram. As the post put it, "Skipping class could now cost Ontario students more than just missed work."
What's changing
Under the new rules, students in Grades 9 and 10 will have attendance and participation make up 15% of their final grade in each course. For Grades 11 and 12, that figure drops slightly to 10%. The province says the shift is part of a broader push to improve accountability and engagement in Ontario classrooms.
Importantly, the province has built in a safeguard: excused absences will not count against a student's grade. That means illness, family emergencies, or other legitimate reasons for missing class won't drag down a report card, provided the absence is properly documented through the usual school channels.
The Ottawa angle
With four major school boards operating in the city, including the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board, tens of thousands of local teenagers will be directly affected when the policy takes effect. For Ottawa families already juggling extracurriculars, part-time jobs, and winter commutes on buses that don't always run on time, the new grading weight adds a fresh layer of pressure to simply getting to class.
School administrators in the city will need to sort out how attendance and participation get tracked and scored well before the 2026-27 year begins, since the policy leaves room for boards to interpret how "participation" is measured day to day.
The bigger conversation
The change is likely to spark debate among parents, teachers, and students alike. Supporters argue that tying grades to attendance encourages better habits and classroom engagement. Critics may point out that students face all kinds of circumstances, from mental health struggles to transportation issues, that make consistent attendance harder than it sounds.
@shottawa.tv posed the question directly to followers: should showing up to class count toward your final grade? It's a conversation Ottawa parents and students will likely be having at kitchen tables as the new school year approaches.
Source: Instagram post by @shottawa.tv
