Your child's report card can show an A in math and still have an N beside Organization. That one letter is easy to skip past, and it is often the most useful line on the page, because it describes the habits sitting underneath every grade.
What are the learning skills on an Ontario report card?
Ontario report cards rate six learning skills and work habits from Grade 1 to Grade 12: Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative and Self-regulation (Ontario Ministry of Education, August 2026). They describe how your child learns rather than what they know, and they appear on the fall progress report and on every provincial report card after it.
The rules behind them come from Growing Success, the province's assessment and reporting policy. It says the development of these skills is "an integral part of a student's learning," and it asks teachers to report on them separately from the subject grades so parents get two different kinds of information (Growing Success). If you want the full tour of the report card first, our guide to Ontario report cards walks through every section.
Sources: Ontario Ministry of Education, 2026 and Growing Success
What do E, G, S and N mean on a report card?
Each learning skill gets one of four letters: E for Excellent, G for Good, S for Satisfactory and N for Needs Improvement (Growing Success). There is no number behind the letter and no test that produces it. Your child's classroom teacher decides it from what they see across the term and across subjects: whether work comes in on time, how your child starts a task, what happens in group work and what they do when something gets hard.
In Grades 1 to 8, the learning skills section sits near the top of the report, ahead of the subject grades, with a comment box for strengths and next steps. In Grades 9 to 12, every course has its own row of six ratings next to the percentage mark, the course median and the credit (Provincial Report Card, Grades 9 to 12).
Do learning skills count toward the grade?
Mostly no. The policy says that, as far as possible, the learning skills "should not be considered in the determination of a student's grades" (Growing Success). The exceptions are skills that are written into a subject's own curriculum, such as the Living Skills in health and physical education or problem-solving in math. So an N in Organization does not take marks off a science grade on its own. It can still show up there indirectly, because a project that was never planned is usually a weaker project.
The six learning skills in plain words
The policy gives teachers a short list of what to look for under each skill. Here is what each one means in everyday terms, with one small thing you can try at home. Pick one skill, not six.
The six learning skills, and one thing to try at home for each
| Skill | What the teacher looks for | One small step at home |
|---|---|---|
| Responsibility | Keeps commitments, hands in class work, homework and assignments on time, and manages their own behavior | Agree on one place homework lives and one time each week to check what is due |
| Organization | Makes a plan for a task, sets priorities, manages time and finds the right resources | Break the next project into three dated steps on a calendar your child can see |
| Independent Work | Uses class time well, follows instructions with little supervision and adjusts their own plan | Have your child try the first question alone for five minutes before asking for help |
| Collaboration | Takes a fair share in group work, responds well to other people's ideas and works through disagreements | Ask what their part of the group project is, and how the group decides who does what |
| Initiative | Shows curiosity, tries new tasks with a positive attitude, takes reasonable risks and speaks up for themselves | Praise a good try on something new, not only the right answer |
| Self-regulation | Sets goals and tracks them, asks for help when needed, reflects on strengths and keeps going when work gets hard | Practise one sentence to ask the classroom teacher for help, and use it once this week |
Teacher column summarized from Growing Success, Ontario Ministry of Education. Home steps are suggestions, not part of the policy.
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How learning skills show up on the fall progress report and the report card
The first time you see the learning skills each year is the fall progress report, which Ontario elementary schools send home between October 20 and November 20 (Ontario Ministry of Education, August 2026). It is an informal progress report with no marks. Each subject says whether your child is progressing very well, well or with difficulty, and the six learning skills are rated on the same E, G, S and N scale. Our article on the fall progress report explains those three phrases in more detail.
The first official report card for Grades 1 to 8 follows between January 20 and February 20, and the second comes home in June. High schools report twice per semester, or three times a year in schools without semesters. Exact dates are set by each school board, so check your school or board website.
That timing is useful. The fall ratings are your starting point, and the winter report card shows whether a habit has moved. A skill that goes from N to S in three months is real progress, even if it is not an E yet.
My child has good grades but an N in Organization. Should I worry?
Not worry, but notice. Strong grades with a weaker learning skill usually mean your child understands the material and is carrying the habit with effort, reminders or a lot of help at home. That can hold up for a while. Planning, handing work in and asking for help carry more weight as assignments get longer and more independent in the later grades, so it is worth working on the habit while the grades are still strong.
The opposite pattern matters too. If grades are slipping and the same skill keeps coming back as an S or an N, the skill may be part of the reason, and that tells you where to start.
What to do when a learning skill comes home as an N or an S
An N is an early flag about a habit, not a verdict on your child. Here is a calm way to use it:
- Read the comment before the letters. The teacher's comment names strengths and a next step, and it usually explains the rating better than the letter does.
- Put the skill beside the grades. An N in Organization next to an A tells a different story from the same N next to a falling math mark.
- Ask your child's classroom teacher three questions. What does this look like in class? Is it every subject or one? What is one thing we could try at home before the next report?
- Choose one habit and one routine. A Sunday check of what is due, a bag packed the night before or five minutes of trying alone before asking for help. Keep it going until the next report.
- Look for a pattern across years. If the same skill is flagged year after year, or comes with frustration around reading, writing or focus, ask the teacher whether it is worth a conversation with the school team.
Learning skills are an Ontario feature. Other provinces report work habits in their own ways, which our guide to report cards across Canada compares.
How Connect Education Can Help
Habits are easier to build inside real schoolwork than in a lecture about being organized. A tutor can plan the next project with your child step by step, show them how to check their own work and practise asking for help, all in the subject where the learning skill was flagged. Every tutor on Connect Education is a licensed teacher in good standing. Your child's tutor builds a one-on-one plan around the skill and the subject, online or in person at your home or a public library, at times that fit your family.
Start with a free 15-minute assessment to talk through the report card, or meet our tutors first.
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