100 CA school districts have created a Portrait of a Graduate. Here’s why

Over the past decade, 100 school districts spanning every region of the state have engaged their local community members to ask, “What are the skills, competencies and mindsets that young people need for future success in college, career and life?” In each case, the result is a shared vision of what students will demonstrate upon graduation — articulated in a “Graduate Profile,” “Portrait of a Graduate” (PoG) or “Learner Portrait.” All 100 portraits are available on an interactive map (Scaling Student Success, 2024).

In the same decade, California has prioritized educating the whole child. Many California initiatives — community schools, expanded learning, Golden State pathways, mental health, social-emotional learning, MTSS and more — have brought not only attention but billions of dollars of state investment to create learning environments, pedagogical approaches, assessment practices and educational ecosystems that cater to the whole child. However, too often these initiatives are implemented in silos with limited vision, capacity or planning to bring them together into a coherent districtwide strategy with clearly articulated whole child outcomes.

A Portrait of a Graduate provides a whole child vision that serves as a North Star and brings necessary coherence to the multiple efforts underway. As such, it has tremendous power and potential to be a driver for transformational change. Districts have used their Portrait as a driver because, by design, a PoG is easy to understand. Any stakeholder, from student to parent to community partner, can look at the one-pager for 30 seconds and say, “Yes! That’s exactly what we want for our children.” It’s a framework that everyone in the district and community can get their heads, hands and hearts around because it is student-centered, equity-focused, outcomes-based and locally-derived.

Of course, creating a PoG is just the starting point. Unfortunately, too many districts have completed their PoG, hung a poster on the wall, felt good about their effort and promptly moved on to other initiatives. Yet, as we know, a poster has never improved student outcomes or changed professional practice. The completion of the PoG marks the start of the heavy lift of moving “from poster to practice” or “rhetoric to reality” or “laminated to lived.” Only when districts and communities commit to fully operationalizing their PoG as a promise to its students and families does it have the intended impact of more holistically and equitably preparing young people for future success. The true power of a PoG lies in implementing the vision — in using it as a guiding framework to align learning experiences with the real-world demands of the future. When fully embraced, the PoG shapes everything from curriculum and instruction to assessment and school culture.

Moving from poster to practice is hard work and takes years. Recognizing the challenge, an increasing number of districts have embedded a PoG as the centerpiece of their strategic plan. Some have included it as a broad goal in their LCAP. Doing so dedicates necessary attention and resources to breathe life into their PoG. It also makes a clear statement about the community’s values. Centering a PoG in a strategic plan and/or LCAP explicitly articulates that while the indicators represented in the state’s accountability system are necessary, they are not sufficient to fully prepare our students for their futures.

To be prepared for an uncertain future, students must be self-directed lifelong learners; culturally-competent and globally-aware citizens; critical and creative thinkers; effective communicators and collaborators; digitally and financially literate; adaptable and resilient; kind and curious; and more. These are the competencies often called out in a PoG. Some Portraits, especially when the community has elevated students’ voices, also articulate the need for young people to take ownership of processes that lead to a healthy mind and body, sense of purpose and sense of self. Together, these outcomes represent a renewed definition of student success and, to a certain degree, a reimagined purpose of education.

The California State Board of Education (SBE) has taken notice of this trend across the state and country. Currently, over 20 states have created statewide Portraits of a Graduate. The California SBE is in the process of creating its own PoG, expected to be completed by September. The SBE’s PoG is not intended for adoption by LEAs across the state, but rather intended to serve as a policy framework to inform future decisions by the SBE. The hope by many practitioners is that it will lead to policy shifts that favor a system of education that increasingly is learner-centered and competency-based with a balanced (state-local) accountability system focused on a broadened definition of student success.

While many reading this article may agree wholeheartedly with the need for, and value of, a PoG, they logically also will wonder how districts are going about both creating and implementing their renewed visions. Every district and community is different, so the approach must be adapted to meet their unique local values, culture, politics and leadership. While there may not be a prescription or one-size-fits-all approach, there are certainly some best practices that districts can apply in order to avoid potholes that early implementers have experienced.