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Portrait of a Graduate

Federal Way Public Schools is committed to ensuring each and every scholar we serve has a voice, a dream, and a bright future. In support of our Strategic Plan, in the 2024-25 school year, we’re engaging with key stakeholders to create our own Portrait of a Graduate, outlining our collective vision for each and every student we serve.  

Why is this important?

As educators, we must continually ask ourselves how the learning experiences we are
providing in our schools are supporting our students in building the skills and mindsets required to achieve their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Now, more than ever, learning experiences must not only provide for the acquisition of rigorous content, but they must also be more intentional about fostering the skills required to thrive in this complex, rapidly changing world. A Portrait of a Graduate is an effective tool for incorporating the entire community’s vision for our young people into one, cohesive guide as we continue to seek out new, innovative learning experiences and provide rigorous coursework to our students. 

Your Voice Matters 

We want our Portrait to be tied directly to our local community, so we are using a collaborative design process to welcome many voices and elicit ongoing input as we co-design our Portrait. The Design Team includes students, parents, staff, community-based organization partners, and Federal Way community members.  
 

Meeting 1: Landscape Shifts

On Monday, November 18, we kicked off our district's Portrait of a Graduate project at Star Lake ES/Evergreen MS, where we engaged with key stakeholders to outline a collective vision for every student we serve.

It was inspiring to gather our Design Team—students, parents, staff, community-based organization partners, and the Federal Way community—to discuss how we can provide the best learning experiences and challenging coursework for our students.

This was just the first of four sessions this school year! We explored the Portrait of a Graduate process, shared insights on the evolving job market, discussed the impact of technology on education, and more.

A huge thank you to our partners at Battelle for Kids for helping us with this amazing project!

Meeting 2: Identifying Competencies 

We are deeply appreciative for the Federal Way community engaging in meaningful conversation at our second Portrait of a Graduate meeting on December 5, 2024. After reflecting on last session's outcomes, the Design Team focused in on the core competencies that will set our scholars on a path to success - a path that will equip our students with skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the future.

Thank you to FWPS staff, students and alumni, parents, and community members for showing up and helping us design our plans for FWPS. Your contributions are invaluable, and helping shape the bright future for our scholars. We are better together, and with your continued support we can achieve great things!