Move Your Portrait of a Graduate from Aspiration to Action in 2026

As we enter a new calendar year, many districts find themselves at a common turning point. They have worked deeply with their students, families, staff, and community to create a rich and meaningful Portrait of a Graduate that lists the competencies they want to foster in their students. But as the 2025-26 school year moves into its second half, the central question for leadership changes: How do we make these aspirations a daily reality in classrooms?

Moving from aspiration to action requires intentional thinking about where to start and how to scale. We found that districts often assume this work is “already happening.” This is true. Many educators do an excellent job at designing learning experiences that provide opportunities for students to practice critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and other future-ready skills. However, without being explicit about where and how these skills appear, we cannot guarantee that all students receive consistent, cumulative development. To truly notice, name, and nurture student growth, we must move beyond the assumption that this work is happening by default and begin designing for it at all levels.

The districts we’ve worked with began with manageable, context-specific goals that ensure all students have access to develop Portrait skills. Here is how two districts we’ve learned from are turning their “resolutions” into actionable instructional models:

Norwalk Public Schools: Braiding Competencies

Norwalk Public Schools in Norwalk, Connecticut, decided to start with deeply developing one competency their first year and then braiding in additional competencies in following years. In the 2024-25 school year, the entire district focused on critical thinking. They set a clear goal that “every teacher incorporates, plans for, and reflects on learning experiences in which students engage in critical thinking” and that “every student engages in and reflects upon critical thinking learning opportunities across multiple disciplines.”

Norwalk selected critical thinking to begin their portrait to practice journey based on ongoing work related to rich student discourse and, while seeking IB accreditation in a subset of schools, critical thinking aligned well with district and school goals. Furthermore, by starting with one competency, curriculum leaders could tag specific activities, thinking routines, and lessons that were prime opportunities to elevate student critical thinking. Read more about how Norwalk did this here.

This year, Norwalk will build on critical thinking by weaving in the effective communicator competency. School leaders, coaches, and teachers will continue to foster critical thinking skills by building on that competency with effective communication skills. By braiding in one competency at a time, Norwalk can foster student growth on each competency while braiding competencies together for an integrated Portrait of a Graduate instructional program.

Ephrata Area School District: Project-based Learning

Ephrata Area School District in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, calls their Portrait of a Graduate program Life Ready Graduate (LRG) to emphasize the future-ready aspect of their program. Ephrata saw the skills and dispositions they identified in their LRG as interconnected and interwoven. As a result Ephrata leaned into project-based learning at the beginning of their LRG journey. Each grade level developed a “cornerstone” learning experience that allowed students to develop multiple competencies at the same time. These projects were authentic, connected to the community, and provided rich and rigorous learning opportunities for students.

Given the success of these early projects, Ephrata is now focusing on making these dispositions a part of daily teaching and learning. Their ongoing goal for this year is to continue to support and strengthen broad instructional change by providing professional learning and resources that shift ownership of learning to students year-round, not just during cornerstone events. By starting with those high-impact projects, the district was able to identify how teachers best plan for these competencies, providing a clear roadmap for scaling those instructional shifts across every classroom this year. Read more about how Ephrata did this here.

Customizing your Portrait Integration

As we continue to learn alongside school systems, we’ve seen that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to actualizing a portrait. Depending on a district’s unique culture and structure, certain models may offer promise for more seamless integration. Some districts develop content area-specific plans. For instance, explicitly integrating critical thinking and problem solving into math and creating explicit learning experiences related to citizenship and global collaboration in social studies. The intention here is not to ignore other future-ready skills, like communication, in social studies, but rather to intentionally develop citizenship skills and competencies. Similarly, one district used their middle school advisory time to have teachers create an elective class that focused on fostering one competency while also learning a new craft, hobby, or specialized interest. Other districts have used an assessment approach to drive competency integration, requiring a defense of learning during which students present evidence and reflect on their growth in specific competencies which spurred teachers into designing activities that students would be able to use in their presentations.

Whichever approach your district chooses, the key element is being specific and intentional about where you expect to see students demonstrating the competencies from your portrait.

A Checklist for the New Year

If your district’s resolution is to move your portrait from a poster to regular instructional practice, consider these three steps:

• Identify specifics: Which grade levels, subject areas, or time of day you expect teachers to be intentionally fostering specific competencies?
• Build on existing strengths: Find synergy with other priorities and programming in your district that align with competency development
• Develop systems of support: Determine what supports teachers need to design daily instruction that names and develops student competency growth. Don’t be satisfied with some teachers integrating in just some classes!

Want to know more about how Digital Promise can support actualizing your Portrait of a Graduate? Reach out here to discuss how we can support your instructional shift in 2026.