The transition from elementary to high school presents students with opportunities to grow and can also be a time of uncertainty or vulnerability for some students. The WRDSB wants to make sure that students have the resources, opportunities, and support they need to be successful in this next step of their learning.

 

What are students being asked to do?

Grade 8 students are invited to complete the Future Grade 9 Survey online during class time between May 12 and May 16, 2025. The survey will take 10 – 15 minutes to complete. 

 

What kinds of questions are on the survey?

In this survey we are asking Grade 8 students about getting ready to go to high school. Some examples include questions about: attending Grade 8 information nights; learning about the requirements to earn an OSSD; opportunities to explore different areas of study, occupations, and careers; how prepared they feel for high school; and the things they are looking forward to or are concerned about. Review all the survey items.

 

What else do you need to know about this survey?

The survey is voluntary. This means that students do not have to participate if they don’t want to and it will not affect their relationship with their teachers, their school, or the school board. This also means that students don’t have to answer any question they do not want to answer. They can skip any question on the survey by leaving it blank.

The survey is anonymous. This means that no one will know which answers are theirs.  Students will not be asked to provide their name or other personal information that could identify them such as their email address or student ID. 

Students can change their mind about taking part after they’ve started the survey by closing the survey and not submitting their answers.

 

How will the information that students provide be protected?

Once students submit their survey, their responses will be combined with the responses of all the other students who take part in the survey. The results of the survey will be reported for the entire group of students who take part. Both of these things will help protect individual student responses from being identified.

Only the WRDSB staff members who will analyze the survey results will have access to students’ survey responses. They will keep the survey responses in password-protected files on a secure department computer for 7 years.

This survey uses the Qualtrics survey tool. Learn more information on how Qualtrics protects privacy and manages data.

 

How will the information that students provide be used? 

The WRDSB will use the results of this survey to help improve the ways we support students’ transitions to the next step in their learning. We will share summaries of the results with participating schools, board staff, and trustees. The results will also be shared with the Ministry of Education.

 

Who can you contact if you have questions about this survey?

If you have any questions please contact your child’s school principal.

Thank you for your continued interest in our schools and support for student learning at WRDSB.

 

David Lane, Ph.D.

Executive Manager, Research and Organizational Transformation