Waverly’s elementary school includes grades young kindergarten through six and is located at 67 West Bellevue Drive, Pasadena, California. The elementary school is part of the larger Waverly community, which includes the middle and high schools, located on their own campuses within walking distance of each other. The young kindergarten class is an early childhood program licensed by the California Department of Social Services. YK students must be aged at least three years nine monthsat the beginning of the school year; most YK students are four years old. There is a maximum of seventeen students in the class, with a head teacher and two assistant teachers. The YK assistant teachers each work part-time in the YK day care program and in the regular school day program. First through sixth grade classes are in self-contained classrooms with a head and an assistant teacher. The kindergarten class has two co-head teachers. The average class size is 24 students, maintaining a 12:1 or lower student-teacher ratio. Beginning in first grade, most classes are multi-age in dual-grade configurations. There is a range of ages and developmental levels in each class.
These students are in seventh and eighth grade and work with five core teachers who teach multiple subjects throughout the school day. Although students do not receive traditional letter grades, students and parents receive information about academic progress. Every six weeks, teachers prepare a report about student performance in each class. At the end of each semester, teachers write a detailed narrative assessment that reflects on individual student progress. Additionally, because of the small student to teacher ratio, teachers are able to confer with one another to discuss the academic, social, and behavioral needs of the students.
Waverly High School
The high school has about 100 students in grades nine through twelve. At the beginning of the 2007–2008 school year, the high school moved to the new Dean A. and Janice E. Scarborough Campus, a facility consisting of seven buildings. The buildings on the new campus are refurbished houses built before 1940. The Pasadena Historical Society helped to fund the moving of three buildings from their original site so that the buildings could be preserved and put to use. Graduation requirements exceed the minimum entrance requirements of the University of California. The school offers a range of courses, including Advanced Placement courses; all courses are approved by the University of California. Waverly is registered with the California Interscholastic Federation.