When a student receives their diploma, it signals both an accomplishment and a promise. The student has achieved an educational milestone, and the school district is promising to have prepared the student for what鈥檚 next. That鈥檚 a lot of meaning for one piece of paper, and at in Muskegon, Michigan, they’re taking it very seriously.
When school, business and community leaders develop their Portrait of a Graduate for Orchard View Schools, they use the promise a diploma symbolizes as a guiding element. When a student graduates from the district, each student is ready for whatever is going to come their way in the world of work or life after K-12.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just knowledge that matters,鈥� said Simeon Frang, curriculum director at Orchard View Schools. 鈥淲hat are those skills, besides academics, that will make us successful in life?”
The district developed a Portrait of a Graduate that featured five attributes that would ensure their student did well academically in life:
- Resilient citizens
- Creative critical thinkers
- Curious collaborators
- Adaptable communicators
- Determined individuals
From there, the district developed grade-band competencies for those attributes.
鈥淲e鈥檝e asked ourselves, if this is the goal for our graduates, what does that look like for a kindergartner? What does that look like for a second or a third grader?鈥� said Frang. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really using our Portrait of a Graduate as our north star to guide us.鈥�
Creating a profile of a graduate that is aligned to a district鈥檚 vision allows that vision to come alive for district stakeholders.
