Five years ago Madera Unified engaged community members, teachers, students and other stakeholders to create the profile of the “life ready” graduate. An advisory team, comprised of educators and community partners working together, held multiple meetings throughout the community to attain feedback on what a Madera Unified graduate should look like. The Graduate Profile as important because it aligns with the district mission for College and Career Readiness, creates accountability for students and the district, and increases the focus on deep learning and quality work. The graduating class of 2025 will be the first one required to demonstrate proficiency with the Graduate Profile through a Senior Portfolio and Senior Defense in order to earn a diploma.

How does the Graduate Profile reflect NCEE’s comparative research?

This aligns with the research on high-performing education jurisdictions. Looking across these countries and at how they are responding to emerging trends, NCEE's developed the following description of "life ready" (The NISL Wheel, p.5):

"We want, at a minimum, to be sure that high school graduates are ready to succeed in the 2-year and 4-year college programs that will prepare them for both work and further education.”

“But that is not all we want. We want students whose mastery of the subjects they have studied runs deep—they have the kind of deep understanding of those subjects that will enable them to learn other things easily when they need to and to apply what they have learned creatively and effectively to a wide range of problems and challenges. We want them to be able to synthesize what they have learned from many domains as they address those challenges and to analyze the challenges they face so that they can address them. They will have to be very good communicators, in many mediums. They will need to be both disciplined and creative at the same time.”

“But we want far more than that for our students. They need to learn how to lead and how to be a good team member. We want them to set high standards for themselves and to be prepared to work hard to achieve them. Their character matters a lot to us. We want them to know right from wrong and to do the right thing when it is not easy to do. We want them to take pleasure from serving others and being a contributing member of society. We want them to be tolerant and inclusive. We want them to be tough and kind.”

“To be effective in anything they undertake, our students will have to be able to control their emotions, set high targets for themselves, and be prepared to sacrifice for their long-term goals to achieve them. They have to be able to monitor their behavior and change it when necessary. They will need to be able to set a goal, develop a plan, and work toward it.”

Defining outcomes for schooling

In particular, five high-performing jurisdictions studied by NCEE (British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea) are responding to a rapidly evolving world by:

“…looking to their schools to assist in creating the kind of society they aspire to become. This invariably includes a society that is equitable, caring, with a strong, sustainable knowledge-based economy, making a valued international contribution to global peace, stability, and environmental sustainability. Some jurisdictions have developed descriptions of the kinds of citizens this future will require. This includes citizens who are knowledgeable, adaptable, skilled, innovative, productive, cultured, independent, principled, and respectful of others. All recognize the far-reaching implications of these aspirations for their school systems. They understand that the outcomes they now seek from schools will not be delivered through incremental adjustments to traditional curricula, pedagogies, and assessment processes, but require deeper transformations and reform.”

(p. X, Building a World-Class Learning System,” NCEE DATE)

“To create and maintain the kinds of societies they wish to become, these jurisdictions have identified desirable personal attributes and dispositions. These include being independent and self-motivated; democratic and respectful of others; adaptable in the face of change; committed to ongoing learning and personal development; thoughtful, knowledgeable, and engaged in society; and creative, self-motivated, and entrepreneurial. Schools are seen to have a crucial role in promoting values and attributes of these kinds.” (p. X, Building a World-Class Learning System,” NCEE DATE)