Why Have a Profile of a Graduate
Skills matter more than standards
The new school year is underway, and with it comes a continuing focus on how we can make schools better for students.
Guiding my work and the work of so many others is the notion of something greater than a diploma or transcript, a profile of a learner or graduate profile.
What is that? It’s an agreed-upon set of school- or district-level aspirations for what every learner will know and be able to do when they leave school. And that doesn’t have to mean when they graduate high school, it can mean when they transition from elementary to middle school or middle to high school.
The skills, or competencies, that make up a learner profile include the most sought-after skills employers look for, such as creative thinking, adaptability, critical thinking, and more.
Content standards aren’t enough. Getting three math credits and four English credits isn’t a great measure of future success.
So much of our work with students should be aligned with these competencies, which are what our schools, parents, businesses, and community members have told us are the most important skills our students can take with them for a successful future.
Battelle for Kids, a thought leader in the Portrait of a Graduate space, released a report this year called “The Future of the Portrait of a Graduate” and shared this reminder:
I’ve often heard the Portrait of a Graduate or Graduate Profile referred to as the “north star” for our work, which is appropriate. Everything we do should align with our Graduate Profile as we prepare students for a future we can’t predict, but we can give them the skills for success.
Focusing on those enduring skills prepares our students for those changes we can’t see. Remember when no one knew about generative AI tools like ChatGPT? And now people are using those tools with great success!
“I say this often in regard to generative AI, but it’s worth repeating: Prior to the arrival of ChatGPT in November 2022, very few people had any hands-on experience in interacting with and using large language models. The people who are using them productively today are not trained in the specifics of generative AI but in ways of thinking that allow one to make use of the tool as an aid to the human work, rather than outsourcing our thinking to something that does not actually think or reason.” - John Warner, Inside HigherED
Always look to the future. As Wizard’s Seventh Rule tells us, “Life is the future, not the past.”