Portrait of a Graduate
A new initiative to help prepare students for life after school. This is not your grandparents’ school curriculum. It’s not even your parents’.
The West Bloomfield School District has fully embraced a vision for student success and well being, referred to as "Portrait of a Graduate', that seeks to move beyond pushing students to attain certain grades or academic milestones and focus on setting students up for success in their pursuits after high school. Our Portrait of a Graduate teaches students the personal skills that will allow them to be successful in life’s various endeavors – best summarized as the 4Cs, which are Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Contribution.
Teaching these competencies requires teachers to incorporate them into day-to-day classroom instruction. It requires a change in how student progress is reported. And it requires lots of input and feedback from stakeholders throughout the district.
Portrait of a Graduate Breakdown
A West Bloomfield School District Graduate has mastered the core competency skills and dispositions to be a:
COLLABORATOR when they work in pairs or groups to discuss an issue, solve a problem, and/or create a product; students are collaborating skillfully when they resolve controversy and conflict through negotiation.
CRITICAL THINKER AND CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER when they systematically go beyond knowledge reproduction to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, or organize information in ways that generate understandings that are new to them.
COMMUNICATOR when they connect and share ideas, and
when they choose the right medium(s) to express their
thoughts.
CONTRIBUTOR when they positively impact the surrounding
community & world by proactively applying personal
awareness and relational skills and also when they
implement routines and processes for stress management & self-care; autonomy & accountability; courage, hope & perseverance; and embracing change & conflict.
These four competencies are vital to the success of our students. In a world where technology has changed how we communicate, vocations in how we problem solve and find solutions and globalization in how we work with one another, our students must possess these dispositions to grow and thrive.
We want our students to be able to communicate effectively with one another. We want them to think critically when presented with a complex issue and find a resolution. We want them to be able to collaborate with those around them. And, perhaps most importantly, we want them to feel safe and loved in our classrooms so they are able to contribute to their learning and that of their peers each and every day.
Student Ambassador Program
As part of the Portrait of a Graduate, the District is proud to announce the Student Ambassador Program. As ambassadors, they represent the school district, engage in community events, and champion the District’s vision helping them become contributors, critical thinkers, communicators, and collaborators empowering each for life ahead.
The West Bloomfield School District is determined to working from preschool through graduation to equip graduates with a toolkit of intangible, but highly impactful skills in critical thinking, collaborating, communicating, and contributing. When coupled with the district’s high academic rigor, the Portrait of a Graduate prepares our students to be some of the most desirable, employable, and valuable members in any school or organization.