Question: How do we help young people become "really good at life?" Here’s one answer: By building a robust portrait of a graduate.

Fact: This week’s guest on District Administration’s ‘Talking Out of School’ podcast provides a framework for creating a portrait of a graduate that better equips students to transition from K12 to college and careers. Mike Duncan, CEO of the nonprofit Battelle for Kids, works with his team to guide district leaders in sparking curiosity in young people to engage them in more meaningful and rigorous learning.

“The nation has just been focused on high-stakes, standardized testing that aims to rank and sort students, but probably not much more,” Duncan says on the podcast. “And so the idea was ‘How do we leverage rigorous, academic content to create experiences where young people can develop a set of durable skills that are locally developed and globally positioned?'”