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Portrait of a Graduate Development Process

Monomoy Portrait of a Graduate

In 2022, Monomoy Regional School District embarked on the process of creating a Portrait of a Graduate. A Portrait of a Graduate can serve as a north star to drive transformation of traditional school models. Developing a Portrait of a Graduate pushes educators to articulate the full range of outcomes they want for their graduates, and work backwards from there to build a school model in which each element maps directly to the identified outcomes. This collective vision reengages and reinvigorates students, families, faculty, and community stakeholders.

The creation of a Portrait of a Graduate for our district will help inform educators from preschool through Grade 12 on the skills, mindsets, and attributes they hope to develop in each and every student. 

Monomoy was aided in the creation of its Portrait of a Graduate by a Development Team, with facilitation by Teaching and Learning Alliance. The School Committee elected to use the services of a consultant in order to provide experienced structure and an impartial third-party perspective throughout this in-depth process. The consultants guided the Development Team to solicit input from a variety of stakeholders in our school community, review and analyze district data and feedback, and draft areas of focus for the Portrait of a Graduate. The Development Team then created the final Portrait of a Graduate and presented that to the School Committee. 

Many thanks to all who participated in the initial information-gathering phase of this project and the Development Team process for our Portrait of a Graduate endeavor. The feedback provided in the focus groups and in the survey guided the the members of the Development Team as they moved forward. The Development Team met regularly to review that feedback and other school data. This team was made up of parents and caregivers, students, faculty and staff, administrators, School Committee members, and community members, and the meetings were facilitated by outside consultants. The group  created a Portrait of the Graduate that was presented to the School Committee, and that will guide the work of the district in the coming years.

Information gathering phase

The Development Team gathering input from the community using a variety of tools:

  • A survey was released in October 2022 and all members of our school community were encouraged to participate
  • The team held a number of in-person focus groups for teachers, staff, administrators, students, parents/caregivers, School Committee members, and community stakeholders such as business, nonprofit, and municipal leaders, as well as engaged community members
  • Members of the Development Team also made themselves available for community feedback

Read the Cape Cod Chronicle article about Monomoy's Portrait of a Graduate project