What Makes Us Wildwood?
Portrait of a Lifelong Learner
A commitment to mastery and skill building leads to the development of skills and attributes that every Wildwood student, from elementary to upper, embodies as they continue their journey to college and the world beyond.
What sets Wildwood graduates apart?
For over 50 years, Wildwood School has been committed to a progressive approach defined by research-driven educational practices, emphasizing mastery learning, standards based assessments, and project-based learning that puts students at the center of their education. As a result, year-to-year, generation-to-generation, our students and alumni all share a common set of skills and attributes that are uniquely Wildwood.
Wildwood’s Portrait of a Lifelong Learner is a visual representation of these common threads. It is applicable to students of all grade levels, with students of all ages being able to demonstrate age-appropriate examples of the Portrait’s attributes. At its heart, this portrait acknowledges that a student’s experience at Wildwood is powered by five verbs—thinking, feeling, doing, being, and reflecting—and empowers students to help shape their own Wildwood experience.
Wildwood’s Portrait of a Lifelong Learner emerged out of the school’s historic frameworks for teaching and learning—the Life Skills at elementary and the Habits of Mind and Heart in middle and upper school—that are ingrained into Wildwood’s ethos. As a K-12 tool, the Portrait represents the integration and evolution of these principles, reflecting our goals for the student of today, while recognizing the power students have to shape their own educational journey.
The Portrait of a Lifelong Learner at Wildwood is a natural evolution of the educational commitment we've made for decades. It helps to guide curriculum and assessments, expands upon our definition of achievement, and allows us to better communicate our goals to those in and outside of our community.JAIMI BOEHM, ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL