Assessment of student progress at Wingra

We believe that a student progresses at his or her own rate in ways that their talents, challenges, and interests dictate. Because we see learning as such an individualized activity, we do not use assessment techniques that compare one student's progress with other students' progress. Wingra students are not ranked according to grade point average and are not given letter grades. Wingra students rarely take tests or quizzes.

Instead, assessing student progress at Wingra occurs in a way that gives a holistic and complete review of the growing child as a learner. Teachers are keen observers of their students and the small student /teacher ratio (12:1) allows for teacher involvement in each students progress, with opportunities for guidance, redirection and revision. Each senior student meets biweekly with a teacher to review their completed work and discuss their progress. Each classroom also uses some kind of portfolio system to collect student work for long-term evaluation. Weekly packets of student work and information from the classroom go home every Friday to keep parents informed of classroom happenings. Teachers share student progress with parents through detailed written and oral reports discussed during twice-yearly parent conferences

Students are actively involved in assessment

At the start of each school year, students meet with parents and teachers to set academic, social and personal goals for themselves and discuss the goals that parents and teachers suggest. Before each of the parent/teacher conferences during the year, students assess their progress towards these goals. A goal feedback conference at the end of the school year gives them the opportunity to reflect back on the year with parents and teachers. They also complete forms to evaluate specific social and academic skills.

Parent-teacher conferences

We consider parents to be partners in the education of their children. The twice -yearly conference (October and February) is an important time for both teachers and parents to share detailed information about student progress. Prior to these half-hour meetings, teachers prepare a detailed report that is sent to parents in preparation for the discussion. Wingra teachers take the preparation of these reports very seriously, and parents find them to be full of detail about their children as learners.

Progress reports

Classrooms for younger students usually employ a checklist format that assesses a student’s development of skills on a non-comparative and non-competitive continuum. Teachers often add narrative comments to further explain the information conveyed in the checklist.

The conference reports provide substantive feedback specific to the talents and challenges of each student in the areas of math, language arts, science, social studies, art, music, physical education, and Spanish. Parents gain insight into their children as learners (observations about organizational skills, attitude, learning style, and work habits) and the student as a member of the school community: their group skills and responsibility to self and others.

View a sample conference report form (MS Word file).

As the subject content becomes more sophisticated and learners present themselves in more complex and individual ways, teachers of older students use a detailed narrative format for conference reporting. These narratives provide a view of the entire learning experience and progress of the young adolescent student.

View a sample narrative conference report in the area of language arts for a fictitious 12 year-old student.

Our approach to progressive education »

Descriptions by subject »
Teaching in themes »
Library and technology »
Independent projects »

How we evaluate student progress »

An introduction to our classes »
Meet our teachers and staff »