CHEYENNE – The Wyoming State Board of Education (SBE) has received recommendations from the design team for Phase I of the Profile of a Graduate. The goal of the initiative is to define the knowledge, skills, and attributes students should have when they graduate from a Wyoming high school.
Once completed, the profile will provide a basis for the SBE to identify state graduation standards.
“The purpose of the project is to take a step back and gather the wisdom and perspectives of all of the education stakeholders in determining what an ideal K-12 system should produce in terms of a Wyoming graduate,” said SBE Chairman Ryan Fuhrman. “We, as the State Board, want to make sure that our work and decisions align with the ideals of our state.”
The SBE established the design team, composed of representatives from multiple stakeholder groups, to assist with the Profile of a Graduate initiative. During Phase I of the project, the design team facilitated 46 listening sessions and received 496 survey responses from citizens across Wyoming. Input from over 800 participants was received during Phase I.
“It is clear that Wyoming values education and folks were willing to invest their time in having a conversation about what graduates should know and be able to do in preparation for life after high school,” Fuhrman said. “The willingness of K-12 educational organizations, the business community, and post-secondary to host listening sessions contributed to the high rate of participation in Phase I. Such enthusiastic involvement bodes well for the promise for success in Phase II and beyond.”
After reviewing the Phase I input, the design team recommended that the profile address four key areas of expectations for graduates: academics, career, community, and life. Each category includes a description of the knowledge, skills, and attributes a student should develop to be accomplished in that area. Additionally, each category includes experiences students could be offered to achieve the described outcomes. To be responsive to stakeholder feedback, the design team also provided suggestions for both local and state systems to consider in order to eliminate potential barriers to successful implementation of the graduate profile.
The full design team recommendations can be viewed here.
The SBE will now transition to Phase II of the Profile of a Graduate project. Phase II will involve the creation of a draft Profile of a Graduate and a second round of listening sessions to share the draft profile with the public and receive input from Wyoming stakeholders. The design team will review Phase II feedback on the draft profile and present any recommended changes to the SBE prior to final profile approval.
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