St. Benedict School has been chosen to participate in DPCDSB's Student Census Pilot.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) is undertaking a student census. All students in Grades 4 - 12 will be asked to complete an online survey that will ask them questions about their identity (e.g., gender, ethnicity and race, immigration status). Parents and guardians will be asked to complete the student census for their children in Kindergarten through Grade 3, as well as for students with special needs who are unable to complete the census themselves.
The DPCDSB Student Census will be open from May 5, 2021 until the end of the school day on June 2, 2021.
What is a Student Census?
Most residents of Canada are familiar with the Census of Canada, which asks individuals to provide a wide range of information about themselves and their households (e.g., Indigeneity, ethnic diversity and immigration, population, languages, income, education) to Statistics Canada. For the individual completing the census, personally identifiable information (e.g., name, date of birth, home address) is collected; however, all personal data are kept strictly confidential by Statistics Canada. The DPCDSB Student Census will work in the same way as the Census of Canada and will help DPCDSB understand the backgrounds and experiences of DPCDSB's student population.
Why are we collecting this information?
Ontario's Anti-Racism Act of 2017 requires all public sector organizations, including school districts, to collect data about the identity of people accessing their services. Collection of this information is intended to identify and address systemic racism and discrimination. DPCDSB recognizes that fighting systemic racism and discrimination also demonstrates its commitment to Catholic Social Teachings, namely: human dignity, solidarity, living in community, and upholding rights and responsibilities.
Please see the links below for more information about the Student Census, including:
Implementation and Confidentiality
It is important to note that responses will not be anonymous. Each student's responses will be linked to their student number. This linking of student responses to their corresponding student number permits the examination of outcomes (i.e., achievement, programming, attendance, and discipline) by identity category. Analysis of these outcomes will help identify differential outcomes by student group. It is through these analyses that disproportionality and disparity may be detected and addressed appropriately to improve learning and educational outcomes for all students.
Raw data from the DPCDSB Student Census will be accessible only by DPCDSB Research Department staff. Linking of census data with the student information system records will be undertaken by these staff. Once the census and student information system data are linked, all personal identifiers will be removed from the resulting dataset to anonymize the data for group analyses. All data will be kept confidential, and any published reports or datasets will be limited to group-level information (e.g., board, school, community, identity group). Note that DPCDSB staff will not add any census information to the student's record in the student management system or to their individual Ontario Student Record (OSR). DPCDSB staff will only report census findings for groups of students, not for individuals.