The Adult High School is an

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB, known as English-language Public District School Board No. 25 prior to 1999) refers to both the institution responsible for the operation of all English public schools in the city of Ottawa, Ont ...

high school for adults in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is the only regular secondary school entirely for adults in the province of Ontario. The school is located at 300 Rochester Street southwest of downtown in

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

. The complex, built in 1965, originally housed the High School of Commerce which founded an adult education program in 1983. Enrolment at the High School of Commerce gradually decreased until the school closed in 1990 and the Adult High School took over the entire building. Adult High School is a regular high school, and follows the standard Province of

curriculum. Students are full-time and attend teacher-led classes from September to June. Students at AHS must be over eighteen years of age and have been out of high school for one year. The school offers specialized teaching for older students, and has programs for those with mental or physical disabilities. It also has

English as a Second Language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

programs as many students are immigrants whose high school diplomas are not recognized in Canada. In 2001, 45% of the school's students had a language other than English as a first language. The school also operates a full service day care for students with children.

Comparison with the rest of Ontario

The revision of the Education Act in the late 1990s by premier

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

resulted in the transfer of the burden of the costs of adult education from the taxpayer to the student, resulting in far fewer adults being able to afford acquiring the Grade 12 equivalency needed for entry into college programs. While this resulted in
decimation in the numbers
of adult students all over Ontario seeking high school credit, along with a further decimation of course offerings to such students by schools in their region, Adult High School had survived and flourished to being a full-service public high school. By contrast, most adult high schools in Ontario offer little more than basic math, science and English credit courses, without even any way to diagnose, accommodate, and properly place students with learning disabilities. Ottawa-Carleton's Adult High School offers workplace-level math, English and science, art and creative writing credit courses that would be well beyond the adult school offerings most other Ontario school boards. The tuition is usually lower than taking
GED exam

External links

School WebsiteOCDSB WebsiteOCSDB School Profile
{{OCDSB High schools in Ottawa Adult high schools in Canada Educational institutions in Canada with year of establishment missing

Comparison with the rest of Ontario

See also

External links