Each new school year brings a chance to reaffirm our shared vision for student success. For districts that have adopted a Portrait of a Graduate, that vision is already defined—it’s a set of essential competencies that guide students toward thriving in school, work, and life. But the Portrait is only as powerful as the plan behind it.
Whether you’re just beginning to roll out your Portrait or refining a system that’s been in place for years, fall is the moment to ask: What will this work look like in action over the next nine months? As a former principal and district administrator, I’ve learned that successful implementation begins with thoughtful planning, clarity across grade bands, and a culture of adult learning. Here’s how to get started.
- Take the Long View
Full implementation of a new district-wide initiative takes between three and five years. Knowing this, you can break down your district’s larger goals into smaller, more attainable ones and sequence them so that first-year implementation lays the groundwork for a sustainable multi-year rollout.
At Wayfinder, we support partners with a Walk-Jog-Run approach to program implementation. A similar framework can be applied to rolling out a Portrait of a Graduate:
- Walk: Define baseline goals and the steps schools must take to reach them. Think: establishing a common understanding of the Portrait’s traits and goals, messaging to students and families, and establishing practices for skill instruction, measurement, and assessment.
- Jog: Assessing the effectiveness of the Walk phase, adjust practices for year two, adding additional systems, staffing, and/or funding to embed the Portrait more deeply across schools. At this stage, consider updating messaging, standardizing instructional practices across sites, and creating or adjusting shared rubrics for skill assessment.
- Run: The third and following years are all about using learnings to build on your previous work. They’re about fine-tuning your systems, supporting sites with tailored practices that best suit their contexts, and using robust data to inform your next steps.
Taking the long view can help ensure that even aggressive goals get met. Knowing that results won’t be immediate can help reassure staff that success comes with gradual progress. This can help reduce burnout risk, build implementation capacity over time, and foster educator, family, and student investment in the process.
- Start Every Year with the End in Mind
Before introducing new initiatives or revisiting last year’s progress, name your district’s goals for the year ahead. Ask yourself and your leadership team:
- What do we want students to demonstrate by the end of the year?
- What does success look like at each grade band?
Backwards-mapping helps ensure that every grade level builds intentionally toward a coherent outcome. For some, that may mean aligning the Portrait to a senior capstone project, identifying the skills needed to complete it successfully, and scaling those down for each grade leading up to it. For others, it could be defining grade-level milestones that serve as stepping stones and using those to determine the traits of a successful graduate. Either way, planning should begin with end-goal clarity.
- Make the Traits Real
Students and staff need a shared language and vision for each Portrait trait. It’s not enough to post values like Collaboration or Agency on the wall. We need to define what those traits look, sound, and feel like in practice. Educators across grade levels should be able to articulate measurable signs of success, and students should be able to recognize and demonstrate those traits in themselves.
Consider developing:
- Concrete examples and “look-for” indicators for each trait
- Posters or digital visuals to reinforce language across classrooms
- Student reflection tools that tie daily actions to Portrait competencies
The goal is to create a universal understanding: a common thread that runs through hallway conversations, classroom instruction, and family communication.
- Honor Site-Level Flexibility with Clear Non-Negotiables
In most districts, schools will interpret and implement the Portrait in ways that reflect their unique cultures. That’s a strength. But to ensure districtwide coherence, you’ll need to name non-negotiables.
Start by clarifying:
- What types of evidence will you accept for demonstrating skill mastery?
- Which competencies must be addressed by all sites?
- What are the minimum expectations for classroom integration?
Give school leaders the autonomy to work toward those goals in their own way, but make the shared targets crystal clear. Ask each site to articulate how they’ll meet the Portrait’s shared end goals, and encourage collaboration across campuses.
- Invest in Professional Learning
A strong Portrait rollout starts with strong adult learning. This includes district leaders, principals, instructional coaches, and classroom educators.
Begin by assessing:
- What do leaders and staff already know about the Portrait?
- What do they still need to understand?
- Are there different needs based on role, experience, or site?
For returning leaders, a refresher and deployment support may be enough. New administrators or teachers should be positioned as lead learners and offered tailored professional development. Districts should consider differentiated learning pathways and site-level coaching to ensure everyone has what they need to succeed.
Learning goals should include:
- A deep understanding of each Portrait trait
- Strategies for modeling traits in leadership and instruction
- Tools for assessing and reinforcing competencies in classrooms
- Bring It Into the Classroom Every Day
For your Portrait to stick, it can’t just live on a poster. Students must be actively developing these competencies throughout the year.
Work with instructional teams to embed Portrait skills into:
- Shared projects and performance tasks
- Rubrics aligned to Portrait competencies
- Student-led conferences or reflections
- Spotlight growth through reflection and recognition
This will look different at each age level. A kindergartner demonstrating agency won’t look the same as a junior leading a group project, but both can be grounded in a shared definition of the same Portrait trait. Reflection practices have to match students’ metacognitive capabilities, and recognition of skill growth must offer something valuable and authentic to students of different ages. Partner with teachers across grade bands to scaffold skill development in authentic and developmentally appropriate ways.
- Celebrate Growth Along the Way
Students need to see that these skills matter—not just at graduation, but every step of the way. Recognize and celebrate Portrait traits in action regularly:
- Highlight student stories in assemblies, newsletters, and social media
- Invite families to participate in showcasing learning
- Use school-wide visuals and language to reinforce values daily
Most of all, ensure that students themselves understand their progress. Build in regular opportunities for self-assessment and reflection. When students can name and track their growth, they become active participants in their own learning journeys.
Making It Happen
Your Portrait of a Graduate is a powerful promise to your students and community. It says: This is what we believe every graduate should know, be, and do.
But to keep that promise, we need more than posters. We need planning, professional learning, and everyday practice. And the beginning of the year is your opportunity to align vision with action.
So, gather your team. Start with the end in mind. And remember that each small step brings you closer to the graduate you envisioned when you first created your Portrait.
The work is worth it. Your students are ready.
Author: Diana Curtaz, Director of Implementation Services at Wayfinder
