Toronto school board changes admissions process to make access to specialist programs more equitable

The Toronto District School Board will ditch admission requirements for its specialized schools and programs that put marginalized students at a disadvantage.

The TDSB, Canada’s largest school board, said it will no longer rely on auditions, entrance exams, portfolios or report cards when selecting students for its dozens of specialized schools and programs, which focus on the arts, athletics, science and technology, Africentric learning and other subjects.

It will instead randomly select students when there is more interest than capacity and look at how to provide priority access to students in underserved communities, the TDSB said following a board meeting on Wednesday evening.

“It is our responsibility to take action to improve access for all students where we identify systemic barriers,” TDSB chair Alexander Brown said in a statement.

“This new policy will ensure a greater number of students have access to these high-quality programs and schools while reducing barriers that have long prevented many students from even applying,” he said.

About 9,000 of the TDSB’s 235,000 students are currently enrolled in one of its nearly 40 specialized programs and schools.

The new application process will be in place later this year for students applying for the 2023-24 school year.

“It’s good news, it could be so much better,” said Stephen Seaborn, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Public Education advocacy group. “So much more work needs to be done.

“Access to these kinds of specialist programs is easier for so-called middle-class kids, the children of professionals,” he said. “It probably won’t actually look at the most economically and racially marginalized kids.”

The TDSB says the move aims to reduce systemic barriers — such as geography, socioeconomic status and race — while some parents and students say the move could lower the quality of the programs without necessarily reaching those it seeks to help and it was unfair to those who had been working hard to get into a specialized program.

The board’s director of education, Colleen Russell-Rawlins, said the TDSB was focused on both excellence and equity.

“There is immense talent and brilliance among students who will benefit from these programs,” she said.

The board’s French immersion program is already based solely on applicant interest, while Special Education Intensive Support Programs and the International Baccalaureate program are administered separately.

Morgan Sharp / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer