In our rapidly evolving world, the concept of what it means to be an educated and prepared citizen for the 21st century has fundamentally changed, and studies show that “nearly half of teens think about their education and career path every single day.” Educators acknowledge the need to broaden the traditional academic criteria, incorporating social, emotional, and civic learning, alongside skills essential for navigating complex lives. This shift is why schools and district administrators are reimagining student success metrics. They aim to nurture graduates who possess a strong sense of identity and are well-prepared for economically viable futures. With this in mind, is your school ready to start the transformational process of creating your own Portrait of a Graduate (PoG)?

Despite the growing need, not all school systems are ready or equipped to develop a portrait of a graduate. Jumping into this level of sophistication regarding the skills, abilities, and characteristics that you want your graduates to obtain while in school can be a mistake. It is not impossible to make the leap from a status quo institution to a PoG with the realization that not all of the new standards of accountability for these new attributes are currently attainable for graduates. But, that can cause more anxiety and animosity in the system than is necessary. Instead, PoG developers can search for signs that the school or district is ready, or nearly ready, to begin this work. The following signals are both indicators of readiness and key steps that can be taken if your system has not already begun some of the prerequisite work on the journey toward a PoG. Examples can also be used as guideposts, such as the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate, which includes competency statements.  

Your Pathways are Well-Designed and Running Smoothly

Many vocational and technical school systems are ahead of the game when it comes to developing their portrait of a graduate (PoG) simply because career pathways are well-established as a fundamental aspect of their programming. When every student is enrolled in a successful pathway, it makes it a smooth transition to using the pathway data–course outcomes, graduation requirements, credit attainment, associated credentials, etc–to establish a PoG that aligns with coursework that students are already taking. 

That said, more than ever, comprehensive school systems are developing pathways for students as well. Traditional high schools may not offer the depth of a vocational program, but school systems around the world are developing pathways that put students on a trajectory to be more college and career-ready than in the past. If your pathways are well-designed and running smoothly, it makes sense to take the next step by authenticating the work with a PoG. A well-crafted PoG can validate that your graduates are demonstrating the positive outcomes of the pathways. Additionally, a PoG can highlight areas where your pathways could further enhance college and career readiness. For these reasons and more, systems with well-defined pathways are ready to advance toward developing a PoG. 

‍Technical Tip: Signs that You Have More Work to Do

• Your pathways and pathway courses are available to students, but not all students are enrolling, possibly because they do not see the benefit and choose not to participate. For example, your culinary pathway requires two extra credits to graduate that students do not seem to value on their transcript. 
• Your pathways are gated in a way that restricts access for many students, particularly marginalized students. For example, your nursing pathway requires a specific GPA that acts as a barrier to enrollment.
• Your pathways data reveals that certain student demographic groups–based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc–have disproportionately greater or lesser access to specific pathways. For example, your engineering pathway is consistently 98% male students. 

Your Students are Engaged in Work-Based Learning and Other Work-Force Readiness Programming

When students are enrolled and engaged in strong academic and career pathways, school leaders start to see the benefits of creating work-based learning (WBL) experiences and workforce readiness programming to augment in-class learning. This process typically unfolds step-by-step: work-based learning usually follows the development of pathways; rather, than preceding it. As pathways grow, the need for industry partners emerges–to help with curriculum and resources–putting students on the track towards gaining work experience that schools can then credit on the transcript. 

Once one or two pathways have established comprehensive WBL processes, these models can be replicated across all other pathways. This allows all students to earn WBL credits, eventually making it a mandatory requirement for graduation. As students engage in WBL experiences with industry partners, schools often discover that certain essential skills—such as employability and "durable skills" that are transferable across various work environments—are not typically covered in a general education curriculum. This process usually unfolds gradually: schools build pathways, which attract industry partners, who then provide work-based learning opportunities. 

This then reveals to school leaders that there is a need for a workforce readiness curriculum to help students attain durable skills. When a school system has implemented many or all of these steps, the next logical step is to develop a Portrait of a Graduate. This solidifies the profile of graduating seniors, holds the system accountable to that profile, and identifies any gaps in other characteristics that the community would like to see their high school graduates before they walk across the stage. 

‍Technical Tip: Signs that You Have More Work to Do

• Your work-based learning experiences are currently limited to career and technical education (CTE) pathways, rather than being available to students on other more academic tracks. For example, your engineering program includes a WBL component, but students who study theater and the arts do not have similar opportunities.
• Your work-based learning experiences are not tied to a credit on the transcript, meaning that WBL experiences are not necessarily showcased on their transcripts. 
• Your career readiness program serves students who are not likely to pursue a 2- or 4-year higher education. For instance, students in your construction pathway have WBL experiences but those who are enrolled in your IB program do not. 

Your System is Rethinking Grading, Assessment, and Reporting Practices 

Grades and grading practices are often considered controversial topics. Despite the extensive conversation, literature, and resources available from leading experts such as Thomas Guskey, Starr Sackstein, Joe Feldman, Tom Schimmer, and others. Many systems are still very slow to address the need for new and different approaches to grading, assessment, and reporting. However, there is hope for a brighter future for our students, particularly when it comes to how teachers hold students accountable for producing work versus truly assessing mastery of the content. The good news is that more schools, especially in the US, are beginning to see grading as an equity strategy. This involves providing students with more detailed feedback than a letter grade and removing behaviors, such as tardiness or “sloppiness,” from the grading equation altogether. 

Changes to grading, assessment, and reporting include moving away from a letter system to a 0-4 method. This decreases the discernment of so many letters/numbers and eliminates the super-zero from its disastrous impact on a student’s overall grade. The most significant change that systems undergo in this process is redefining what a grade is and does for students. The goal is to create a reporting system that supports learning by providing more meaningful feedback rather than the traditional point-gathering system that many schools still rely upon. 

Rethinking grades, assessment, and reporting is a huge step toward developing a portrait of a graduate because the portrait typically calls for a broader set of qualities and characteristics from students and new report cards and grading structures are doing with to provide a wider array of informative feedback about how students are doing in school beyond just the typical academic indicators that have been used to date. 

‍Technical Tip: Signs that You Have More Work to Do

• Your school system has not begun to research or rethink grading structures and processes. For instance, you do not have a grading team/committee or even a group of educators engaged in a book study on the topic.
• Your district or school lacks common formative and summative assessments available as curriculum resources. For example, each 7th grade ELA teacher uses different types, styles, and content assessments in their gradebook. 
• Your reporting system is rigid and cannot be easily modified. This means that your internal report card is fixed, allowing only letters, numbers, and predefined codes without the flexibility to include other types of information. 

Conclusion: A Few Key Steps to Consider

If your school system has decided to embark on the journey toward the creation of a portrait of a graduate, it is crucial that you start your initiative the right way. First, you will need a very collaborative approach, which is why we developed an e-book asset for school leaders who want to do this work effectively. You can download it here. In the document, we share that it is not until Phase 3 of your project that you want to begin implementation, a common mistake for school systems with an eagerness to see quick, tangible results faster than that. Second, find a partner to help guide the work. A thought leader in this space is critical to help with unforeseen roadblocks that experienced partners can point out ahead of time. Third, begin with the end in mind. As you come to the conclusion of what should be a 2-3 year process, you will need a communication plan, a platform to showcase student work (including their digital portfolios), and various ways to measure the success of your new PoG. If you checked all three boxes above, and you feel confident with these three steps, it is time to take this important leap toward better preparing students for college, career, and citizenship in the future. Find out how MaiaLearning can help you achieve your goal of creating and implementing your Portrait of a Graduate.