Our Wildwood, Volume 54

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point out that it involves a complete shift in thinking about learning and assessment. One of the most helpful ways to understand mastery is to think about something you have truly mastered in your own life, Jaimi says. “Imagine roasting a chicken. If you’ve mastered it, you can do it independently—without a recipe, reminders, or someone guiding you step by step,” Jaimi says. “You can do it consistently, not just once on a good day—and you can do it across contexts: in your own kitchen, in someone else’s kitchen, for a big dinner party or just for yourself.” That is how mastery is defined at Wildwood. For a student to demonstrate mastery of a standard, teachers look for evidence that the student can show understanding consistently, independently, and across contexts—in writing, in conversation, in projects, in more formal assessments, and in creative formats. Because students express understanding in different ways, teachers intentionally provide multiple opportunities and modes for students to demonstrate what they know. This is also why mastery is not an expectation at the very beginning of a school year, Jaimi says. Developing Competence is a healthy, developmentally appropriate place to be. Mastery, instead, is something teachers look for over the full arc of a year, not a unit, not a test—and not a single moment.

Check out Episode 1 of the “Inside Wildwood” podcast, where Jaimi Boehm sits down with teachers Kate Scarborough and Melanie Boonstra for a deeper look at how and why we use narratives to guide student learning and growth.

student-centered, inquiry-driven, experiential, and reflective. In elementary school, standards for assessment are intentionally broad, allowing students to build foundational skills in developmentally appropriate ways. The skills within those standards evolve each year, layering understanding and application. To make learning visible and student owned, elementary classrooms use clear learning targets—often framed as “I CAN” statements—so students can articulate what they are working on, track progress, and reflect on growth. In middle and upper school, standards become more discipline specific. Students engage in the practices of mathematicians, scientists, historians, writers, and artists—constructing arguments, interpreting data, communicating with clarity and precision, and applying skills across contexts. Across all grades, learning is assessed through three essential lenses: • Can students understand the content? • Can they make meaning of what they have learned? • Can they apply and transfer that learning in new situations? For each standard, teachers indicate whether a student is demonstrating Mastery, Approaching Mastery, Developing Competence, or Not Yet Demonstrating Competence. At surface level, it may seem that these are merely another way of naming A’s, B’s, and C’s, but Jaimi is quick to THE MEANING OF “MASTERY”

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