Ontario to spend $60M on Nelson Education’s Edwin platform for teachers starting September 2026; new Grade 9–12 assessment standards planned

Ontario is investing $60 million in a provincewide digital learning platform that will give teachers access to classroom resources through Nelson Education’s Edwin platform starting in September 2026, and the province says it will also introduce new mandatory changes to assessment standards for Grades 9 to 12.

The changes are expected to affect families across Ontario because the Ministry of Education says the Edwin platform will be available across all 72 school boards, and the new assessment standards would apply to secondary school grading.

According to the province, Edwin covers Grades 1 to 12 subjects in English and French and is already used in some Ontario school boards.

Nelson Education Ltd. was selected as the Vendor of Record through a competitive procurement process led by Supply Ontario, the province said.

The Ministry of Education said teachers will be able to use materials organized by subject and grade, including ready-made lesson plans or the option to build lessons using interactive tools, activities, videos and presentations. The province also said resources can be used in different formats, including downloaded, printed activities or materials used directly during classroom lessons.

Nelson Education’s Edwin implementation team will work with school boards to provide training materials and online demonstration sessions on how to use and access the resources, according to the province.

Teachers will still be able to use supplementary educational materials approved by their school board, the province said.

On assessment, the province said it is releasing new mandatory changes to assessment standards for Grades 9 to 12. The province said the changes are intended to bring greater consistency to grading and provide clearer guidelines for calculating final marks across subjects and grades.

The province’s assessment policy for Ontario schools, including how secondary students are assessed and graded and information such as course exemptions, is set out in the “Growing Success” policy, the release said.