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District 97 unveils standards-aligned 'Portrait of an Oak Park eighth-grade graduate' work to guide out-of-school learning
Summary
District 97 staff described a year-long effort to translate community priorities into eight competency areas for an 'Eighth grade graduate portrait,' align those areas to Illinois learning standards, gather student focus groups and incubate youth leadership and community partnerships to implement the work.
Oak Park Elementary School District 97 presented Tuesday an update on its “Portrait of an Oak Park eighth-grade graduate,” a community-driven competency framework the district plans to align with learning standards and community partners.
Dr. Ebony Lofton, chief learning innovation officer, told the board the portrait identifies eight development areas the community prioritized and that this year staff focused on turning those dimensions into measurable, standards-aligned learning targets and pilot experiences across age levels.
“We started with affinity groups, moved to community feedback and then aligned the vision to learning standards so the portrait is about competency — what students should know and be able to do,” Dr. Lofton said. The district staff said they centered student voice by running 12 eighth-grade focus groups at the two middle schools and engaged teachers from pre-K through eighth grade to capture a developmental progression.
Staff summarized themes that emerged from student conversations: the importance of peer connection during school transitions, the desire for more teachers of color in classrooms, smoother transitions across grade levels and more social-emotional supports. Based on that feedback, staff said they prioritized the “holistically well” dimension for initial portrait-aligned experiences.
The district described a new teacher-leader role — portrait early learning engagement teacher leaders — to coordinate community relationships, professional learning and pilot projects. Staff said they are also exploring community placement of portrait icons (for example, in Park District and library program catalogs) to make the competencies a shared community language.
As a next step, the district said it will condense the many applicable standards into no more than three primary “big ideas” per portrait dimension and link each to project-based learning prompts and possible community partners. Staff also described early plans for a youth advisory council to keep students involved in implementation and evaluation.
Board members asked about involving seniors and other community members as volunteers; staff reported prior affinity sessions with township senior groups and said seniors expressed interest in connecting with students through tutoring and career conversations. Staff emphasized they will coordinate portrait implementation with community partners such as the Park District and library to expand out-of-school access.
No board action was required. Staff said work will continue on standards alignment, community partnerships and pilot projects with the goal of making the portrait a visible, shared framework for youth development across Oak Park.
