By Bob Anderson
Download the article: Update: LEAP Project
The goal of the Waldorf LEAP is to develop learning expectations and a model assessment system for Waldorf schools, one that is fully aligned with the curriculum, teaching methods, developmental model of learning, and goals of Waldorf education, and that can provide Waldorf teachers and parents with a rich, qualitative picture of their students' progress towards achieving those goals.
The Project will be carried out by a collaborative of professional researchers and Waldorf educators, working throughout the nation with experienced individual teachers, teacher teams, and schools to reach a consensus vision of learning expectations for Waldorf students and to provide assistance to teachers in the assessment of student progress. Initial efforts will proceed in the areas of language arts, mathematics, and remedial education.
The project leadership team consists of Bob Anderson, M.A., a Waldorf parent and board member who is the Coordinator of Standards Development for the California Department of Education, his wife, Karen Anderson, Ph.D., a writer, researcher and editor who has worked on educational research and assessment projects, and Freda Easton, MSW, EdD., an independent professional development consultant who participated in the evaluation of the Milwaukee Urban Waldorf School and wrote her dissertation on The Waldorf Impulse in Education: Schools as Communities that Educate the Whole Child by Integrating Artistic and Academic Work. Educational consultants for the project will be Betty Staley at Rudolf Steiner College and Eugene Schwartz and Roberto Trostli at Sunbridge College. The project is sponsored by the Waldorf Education Research Institute (WERI) at Sunbridge.
The initial phase of the project has been funded through WERI and the Midwest Shared Gifting Group. Work will begin in November of 1999 and continue into the spring to establish a firm foundation for the Project. The full Project is projected to last for three years, and to be completed in the summer of 2003. As work is completed, the materials developed will be made available to Waldorf teachers in both hard copy and over the Internet.
During the start-up phase, the project will put its administrative staff structure in place, create an expanded project description, establish a communications network, develop a sample “learning expectations” document and “Guidelines for Creating Waldorf Learning Expectations,” and develop a website for facilitating the work of the Project and communicating its results.
Bob Anderson is Coordinator of Standards Development for the California Department of Education and a member of the LEAP leadership team.