On this week's episode of What's up with That?, Kelly Molinet (School Director) and Charlie Orphanides (Educational Director) address a question that all too often provokes parental anxiety: how does my child measure up? Together, Kelly and Charlie contrast the holistic Waldorf model of assessment with the rote standardization at public and other private schools in the wake of federal legislation.

At The Denver Waldorf School, teachers are attuned to each and every student's neuro and physical development, across multiple environments, on a daily basis. Charlies describes "teaching as an art form," in which an educator continually assesses each student as an individual, based upon a relationship of trust and growth over the years. Instead of just measuring a child's learning and progress through incremental assessments manufactured by outside companies, Waldorf teachers assess the whole child, in particular each child's readiness to learn and ability to digest class material and bring that knowledge back into the world. The Waldorf model allows students to flourish while aiming to remove the anxiety out of assessments.