Please sign this petition to show your support for the Simcoe County District School Board returning to formal final exams during a dedicated final exam period starting with the end of Semester Two of this year in June of 2024. 

With educational structure impacted by COVID-19 from the spring of 2020 through to the end of the 2020-21 school year, it made sense not to administer formal exams during that time.

The 2022-23 school year was the time to return to the inclusion of exams in the school calendar. While the SCDSB opted not do so, other school boards, including the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, have incorporated exams in their annual academic plans.

For academic/university/college level courses, exams are a valid part of assessment and student experience that will prepare them for post secondary programs, where formal exams continue to be used in evaluation.

Common feedback from students who started university or college last year or this year is that they have found examinations to be stressful and frustrating, and they wished they would have had prior exam experience. Exams continue to be a major component of post-secondary  programs. Preparing for and writing exams in high school would only help them with the process. The SCDSB is putting its students at a disadvantage in relation to students coming from school boards that hold final exams. That is a disservice to our students and will continue to have a negative impact on them if the no-exam policy continues. Universities and colleges, as well as skilled trades, are competitive environments where students are striving to pursue select programs.  The SCDSB needs to provide its graduates with a pathway to a level playing field.

Please sign this petition now, to send a strong message to SCDSB decision makers that action is needed prior to the start of second semester of this school year.