Greeley-Evans School District 6 advances ‘Portrait of a Graduate’ draft, plans next-year rubrics and classroom alignment

GREELEY, Colo. — Greeley-Evans School District 6 staff on Monday presented a draft “Portrait of a Graduate” to the school board, showing six themes drawn from surveys, a community workshop and outside partner analysis and saying the effort will move into rubric development next year.

The district presentation said the Portrait of a Graduate is intended to be “a tool that we as a school district can use to communicate those cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills that students would have when they graduate,” and to serve as “our guide for teaching and learning through all of our, all of our schools, and it'll provide that shared language, that we need.”

District staff described the project as year one of a multi-year process tied to the district’s strategic plan and said it began with surveys of students, teachers and parents, followed by a community workshop that produced six draft graduate attributes: lifelong learners, engaged problem solvers, confident communicators, contributing citizens, courageous change makers and well-rounded individuals. Staff said the next formal step is to produce classroom-facing rubrics next school year to measure baseline and growth against those attributes.

Board members asked about evidence other districts have produced, measurement and how the portrait will intersect with existing programs. A staff member said their partner, the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), has worked with districts that are five years into similar projects and that some of those districts “have some positive data” and exemplar rubrics the district can review.

Board members also asked how the portrait will operate in classrooms that already host programs such as International Baccalaureate and AVID. Staff said the portrait is intended to provide common language across programs—not replace them—and that much of the work already exists in curricula but is not consistently assessed district-wide. Staff repeated that creating rubrics is central to the next phase so the district can track student growth and discuss progress with families.

On stakeholder participation, staff said survey responses were led by students, followed by teachers and then parents, and described participation as “still a good number” though no percentage was specified. The district said roughly 30–40 people participated in the community workshop used to synthesize themes.

Staff outlined next steps: gather board and DEC feedback, finalize graphics, continue community outreach and in year two convene teachers and others to design classroom rubrics and alignment. The district emphasized the work will be phased, beginning with public-facing language and moving into classroom practice over the next school year.

Board members expressed support but pressed for measurable outcomes. One director said, “It seems like a good complement to our strategic plan,” and another suggested the rubrics and data must be explicit if the portrait is to change programming or graduation requirements. Staff cautioned that while the portrait could influence curriculum and local graduation practices in the long run, any such changes would require separate, later decisions.

The board left the item open for further feedback and invited additional comments via district channels. Staff asked board members to take the draft and provide feedback to the superintendent’s office and indicated they will return with revised language and sample rubrics.

The Portrait of a Graduate presentation was led by district staff member Anthony (presenter) and supported by district leadership and the Colorado Education Initiative.