You raise an interesting point. Back in the '60s a pass was 50-59 %, average was 60-69% and 70-79%was good, 80% + excellent.  In EQAO speak a "pass" (the standard) is now 70%.  Which makes me wonder how many of the "failed" children fall into the 50-69% range that previously would have been considered a pass? Most communications from EQAO seem to be in eduspeak so it's not surprising that this may have been overlooked by the average person who gave up after the first paragraph trying to decipher what was being said. Raising the bar is all well and good but it needs to be done in context with previous experience and a realistic assessment of student abilities.