Jordan board hears year‑one update on Portrait of a Graduate; teachers to get materials at August PD

The Jordan School District Board of Education received a detailed update Tuesday on the first year of implementing its five‑year strategic plan and the Portrait of a Graduate (POG), and heard how the district will move from alignment work into classroom rollout.

Education Elements consultant Sarah Baver told the board the district focused year one on “translating the plan’s high level vision and pillar strategic objectives into very specific actions, metrics, and responsibilities,” and that the district concentrated on two of the POG’s six competencies this year — curious thinkers and responsible teammates — to build teacher resources and proficiency scales.

The update matters because the POG is embedded in the strategic plan’s pillar on high‑quality instruction and is meant to guide instruction, student self‑reflection and family conversations about learning. Education Elements and district staff described the approach as phased: work this year emphasizes alignment and resource development, June will bring administrator sessions to prepare principals to lead school launches, and teachers will receive materials and training during August professional development days.

Baver said the proficiency‑scale language was intentionally aligned with the district’s academic standards language. “We decided to align the POG proficiency scale language around what is already being used in our academic standards based proficiency scales,” she said, adding the adopted terms are “below proficient, approaching proficient, proficient, and highly proficient.” Baver said the district and consultants completed revisions to the scales in March for the two initial competencies.

Miriam Cohen, Education Elements’ implementation lead, framed the multi‑year rollout using implementation science stages. “We use the same framework that the National Implementation Research Network uses,” she said, describing installation, initial implementation and full implementation as the phases the district expects to move through.

District staff and consultants described how teachers were involved: three in‑person workshops (October, December and March) with K–12 instructional leaders and teachers, plus a separate targeted survey of teachers across grade bands. Baver summarized teacher feedback as positive about the scales’ detail and progression and noted a common request to make language more student‑friendly; the consultant team said they revised language accordingly.

Board members asked about grade‑band implementation, special education inclusion and how the district will measure impact. Board member Suzanne Wood asked specifically how the POG will be measured over time; Baver and Cohen said year‑one work focused on aligning data sources and assigning ownership so the district can track impact in later years. Board member Erin Barrow asked how teachers had been involved; Education Elements and board members said teachers helped draft the materials and will have further opportunities to provide input during the August rollout.

Superintendent Anthony Godfrey said the district will use the June administrator sessions to prepare principals to run a consistent, scripted afternoon launch in their schools after a morning keynote, and that the August PD will emphasize that the POG is “not one more thing” but connects to existing curriculum and instruction.

Directives emerging from the discussion include: district staff and Education Elements will continue revisions to ensure vertical alignment and developmental appropriateness; the draft proficiency scales will be placed into the district’s standard proficiency‑scale template; principals will be trained in June; and teachers will receive the materials and training during August PD days. Education Elements will return to a June board meeting for further updates.

The board did not take a formal vote on the materials during the study session; consultants and staff said they will bring final materials and launch plans back for the board’s review later this spring.