Iowa City’s ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ aims to prepare students for life after high school

IOWA CITY — Students who graduate from the Iowa City Community School District will aspire to the competencies of adaptability, communication, critical thinking and empathy, be global citizens and have a learner’s mindset, according to the district’s new “Portrait of a Graduate.”

The Portrait of a Graduate was developed by district administrators, educators, students and community members to represent what skills, character traits and social-emotional competencies students should have by graduation to succeed in college, a career and life.

The six competencies were finalized in May to help prepare students for life after high school.

Superintendent Matt Degner explained that one of the competencies — adaptability — is increasingly important for students graduating into today’s world.

“They will need skills to be adaptable with increasing technology and environmental needs,” he said.

Empathy is another competency Degner said is important for students to learn.

In learning empathy, a graduate is supposed to gain awareness, sensitivity, concern and respect for others, and seek to understand others’ feelings, opinions, experiences and culture.

The four other competencies are:

The work on Portrait of a Graduate will continue to grow and evolve as educators determine how the district can instill the competencies in students during their K-12 education, Degner said.

It will be implemented into the district’s facilities master plan — possibly by creating learning spaces that support the plan.

“This will be the guiding principles in how we think about our learning spaces,” Degner said.

The district is holding meetings in July and August to get community input on the facilities master plan.

A group of teachers and community leaders also will begin meeting to discuss how the competencies can be incorporated into the curriculum.

Portrait of a Graduate is an effort by Battelle for Kids, a national nonprofit that collaborates with school systems and communities to help shape the direction of their schools.

The cost of the program is $28,000 and was paid for by the Iowa City Area Development Group, which Degner called “a generous gift.”

The district began working on its Portrait of a Graduate in spring 2020, but the work was put on pause at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The district resumed its work on the project in February, forming a team of 140 people to create the profile.

The team met four times to discuss what they want Iowa City graduates to look like and what the district and community needs to do to make that a reality.

Portrait of a Graduate is meant to complement academics and test scores as a measure of preparedness for students.

According to Portrait of a Graduate, a decline in college enrollment and graduation rates and increase in the need for additional education and training after high school are a few of the challenges the program can address.

“I’m confident there will be some action steps we take next year, and things different in our curriculum,” Degner said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure we grow and get better every year.”

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