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District unveils "portrait of a learner" highlighting seven competencies to guide instruction
Summary
Franklin County Community Sch Corp. presented a soft launch of its locally developed portrait of a learner — a community-created statement that names adaptability, communication, critical thinking, empathy, integrity, perseverance and responsibility as priorities — and outlined a year-long plan to integrate those competencies into classroom work.
Superintendent Dustin presented a soft launch of the district’s "portrait of a learner," a community-driven set of competencies and a unique graphic meant to define the district’s desired graduate profile.
Dustin told the board the initiative came out of a series of facilitated meetings and surveys with community members, students, parents, business leaders and local organizations. "This group of competencies ... this is ours. This is no 1 else's," he said, listing the seven competencies the community selected: adaptability, communication, critical thinking, empathy, integrity, perseverance and responsibility.
Dustin described how the graphic intentionally incorporates local features: a dam, water and a boat, farming imagery and a school building to reflect the district’s rural identity. He said the next step is to move from the portrait into practice by working with grade-level teams over the next year to embed the competencies into existing lessons rather than add new requirements for teachers.
"So the goal isn't to add more to teachers. It's to take the things that teachers are doing and really adapt them just a little bit so that we are on purpose chasing these things," Dustin said. He described classroom examples and the idea of building a student portfolio over time to document growth in the competencies.
Board members welcomed the initiative. A board member said, "I think it's a great idea. I would fit this every place I could put it. In every handbook, on every publication we have," arguing for broad dissemination. Another board member noted that some language overlaps with Indiana academic standards but that the portrait puts the ideas in local language.
Dustin said local rollout activities will include appearances at the county fair, teacher teams working through targeted professional days and grade-level planning this year. The district will provide additional implementation details to the board as the work moves from design to classroom practice.
