Waverly’s progres­sive philos­o­phy is effec­tive in promot­ing student learn­ing. Students are so immersed in their learn­ing that by the end of the year there are observ­able changes in their devel­op­ment over a variety of well­ness and learn­ing cate­gories. From preschool through 12th grade, Waverly uses forma­tive assess­ment to eval­u­ate students. These assess­ments reflect the range of devel­op­ment in students. Student progress is reflected in assess­ment check­lists and narra­tives, teacher obser­va­tion notes, infor­mal faculty conver­sa­tions, parent feed­back, and student self-reflections. 

A devel­op­men­tal check­list and student narra­tive report is posted in My Back­Pack, Waverly’s online commu­ni­ca­tions system, to parents/​guardians in Febru­ary and June. Devel­op­men­tal assess­ments eval­u­ate each student inde­pen­dently, rather than grading students against a stan­dard or norm. Students are eval­u­ated by their indi­vid­ual skills and abil­i­ties, and teach­ers look closely at how each student is progress­ing in acad­e­mic and social areas. There is no rela­tion­ship between devel­op­men­tal assess­ments and tradi­tional grades, since students at Waverly are eval­u­ated inde­pen­dently on their own progress through­out the year.