Portrait of a Graduate
Springfield Public Schools’ Portrait of a Graduate takes the key components of the district’s mission and puts them into action. Students participate in learning that is engaging, relevant, and personal and are empowered to showcase and celebrate their learning journey in a variety of ways. Collaborative discussions between community stakeholders, district leadership, and classroom teachers identified the following six essential attributes embodied by all SPS graduates: communicator, collaborator, creative, critical thinker, academically empowered, and engaged citizen. Each month, In Focus will weave one of the Portrait of a Graduate attributes into the newsletter content by providing ideas and structures to build students’ and teachers’ capacity with each one.
The thought around this was sparked by George Couros in the Spring of 2016. During his presentation, he shared a story about a student who was rejected from her dream school, Stanford University. She contacted the school and asked if they had Googled her. They had not, and she invited them to do so. They did, and upon learning more about her accomplishments and service, both within and outside of the school walls, they called her back with an acceptance invitation. The story got us thinking about what our students have, or need to have, that goes beyond their transcript and diploma and allows them to tell the story of not only their learning, but also who they are as a person.
The Learner Profile work started in the Fall of 2016, with the Portrait of a Graduate running parallel to the work. (The Learner Profile work is around documenting the K-12 learning experience, while the Portrait of a Graduate paints a picture of desired outcomes for students.) Springfield Public Schools, as a member of EdLeader21 (a network for educators implementing competencies such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity), began preliminary discussions to identify and articulate the attributes necessary for success for SPS graduates in this rapidly changing, increasingly diverse, interconnected world. While the commonly accepted 4 Cs of EdLeader21 were a great start, we wanted to ensure the competencies represented our community. While the Learner Portfolios were being piloted in our sites, administration engaged with Opinion Research Specialists, LLC to conduct a series of Human-Centered Design projects with a diverse cross-section of community stakeholders to further flesh out the attributes and characteristics that should make up the SPS Portrait of a Graduate.
This collection of work has resulted in the identification of the following SPS Portrait of a Graduate essential attributes:
- Academically Empowered
- Critical Thinker
- Creative
- Collaborator
- Communicator
- Engaged Citizen
We believe that students are not solely defined by their academic success in the classroom. As a district, we support and develop our youth to be successful individuals. While this includes being successful as a learner, the role of student is just one of many our young people have. These children and youth are our future skilled workforce and professionals in a broad range of fields, some not yet even created. Regardless of the specific skills required, the intangible skills identified as essential attributes are worthwhile and advantageous for all. We believe that a graduate of SPS with these attributes will have advantages that are evident in their quality of life.