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Plum Borough SD unveils 'Portrait of a Graduate' visual, board moves design forward
Summary
District staff presented a finalized "Portrait of a Graduate" visual and five competencies for K–12 implementation; the board voted to advance the design for final approval and embedding into the comprehensive plan.
Plum Borough School District leaders presented the final "Portrait of a Graduate" visual and recommended competencies at the Feb. 11 discussion meeting, and the board voted to move the design forward for final action at the scheduled Feb. 25 meeting.
Doctor Boyers, who led the design team, described a year-long process that included four focused design sessions and input from 83 internal and external stakeholders, including students, teachers, alumni, business leaders and faith-community representatives. "The portrait itself for those competencies, they don't replace rigorous learning opportunities, but what they do is they take the rigorous learning and they marry it together with those competencies and those soft skills to provide deep and meaningful learning opportunities for students," Doctor Boyers said.
The design team identified five competencies: communication, integrity, critical thinking, adaptability and empathy. Boyers said the group developed age‑appropriate language for K–6 and grades 7–12 bands to help teachers incorporate the competencies into curriculum, assessments and school culture. A student-representative and other board members said they supported the effort and urged that the portrait not be a document that "sits on a shelf." Student representative Drew Thacker told the board the previous logo felt "a little outdated" and said emphasizing critical thinking from seventh grade onward would better prepare students for a world with pervasive technology.
Superintendent and board members said the district intends to embed the portrait into the upcoming comprehensive plan and connect it to professional development, curriculum planning and community partnerships. The board approved moving the visual and the next implementation steps forward by a 5–0 vote at the discussion meeting.
Next steps include communication to families through the district's digital channels, creating a dedicated web landing page for the portrait, professional development for staff beginning in January implementation work and aligning the portrait with program-of-studies updates and potential partnerships with local businesses for internships and job shadowing.
