Unlikely Reflections: Why Portraits of a Graduate Should Begin With Portraits of the Adults
The phrase “Portrait of a Graduate” has become a modern artifact of well-intentioned educational reform. Across K-12 schools and higher education institutions, we carefully craft these aspirational visions—portraits in words—of the young adults we hope to shape. These documents are filled with laudable traits: adaptability, critical thinking, collaboration, empathy, creativity. They are beautifully designed, collaboratively written, and publicly shared, often displayed in entryways or printed on strategic plans. But an uncomfortable truth lies buried in their glossy presentation: we write these portraits for students, but not from them—and more importantly, not with them or through us.
The unlikely thing—the thing we rarely discuss but must if these portraits are to become more than performative—is this: we must first become what we hope our students will be. The portrait of a graduate must begin with the portrait of the adult. And not a written one—a lived one.
We do not emulate values because they are declared. We embody values because we witness them. This is the central flaw of our current model: we are attempting to instill character traits in young people through design artifacts and speeches, but not through the consistent modeling of adult behavior. This is particularly ironic in schools, institutions that exist to shape identity and skill through relationships and example. If the dominant behaviors of the adults in an environment do not match the aspirations printed in the portrait, then those traits remain abstract. Or worse, they are seen as performative and disingenuous.
Take creativity as a common example. Many school districts are now asking graduates to be creative thinkers, risk-takers, and solution-oriented problem-solvers. But how often do our professional meetings reflect that ethos? How often are educators and leaders allowed, much less encouraged, to be creative in their daily work? Do we celebrate creativity in adult performance evaluations, feedback, or recognition systems? Is creativity safe for teachers, or does it feel risky and suspect? If a teacher is not safe to be creative, what message does that send to the student?
In organizational development, we often say “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” In schools, the analogous idea might be: “the behavior of adults eats vision statements for lunch.” What we show, we grow. If students witness conflict avoidance, top-down control, and fear of experimentation in the adults around them, then no amount of aspirational visioning will overcome that experience. The message is clear: behave like us, not like the portrait.
To reverse this, we must begin to reframe the Portrait of a Graduate as a mirror before it becomes a map. We need a framework for adult alignment—a “Portrait of the Practitioner,” if you will. Not as a punitive standard, but as a living guide for self-reflection, shared commitment, and growth. This adult portrait would not merely include professional competencies, but personal dispositions: humility, curiosity, courage, generosity, learning agility. Most importantly, it would include the mechanisms for feedback and reflection, so that these traits are more than aspirations—they become visible, discussed, and improved upon.
Creating these portraits for and with adults would also reintroduce integrity into the learning environment. It would model the message we tell students: that learning and growth never stop, and that who we become matters. Imagine a school where adults regularly reflect on whether they are modeling adaptability, or whether they are truly acting with empathy. Imagine a principal asking, “How did I show curiosity this week in my leadership?” or a teacher asking a peer, “Did my lesson allow for student agency in the way we say we value?”
This shift—this unlikely thing—requires courage. It asks us to step into the very spotlight we tend to keep reserved for students. But it also holds the potential for transformational change. A school culture where adults actively live the qualities they promote will generate graduates who don’t just perform competencies, but internalize values. It creates coherence, trust, and authenticity—conditions under which real learning thrives.
If we want graduates who are ethical, innovative, empathetic, and agile, then we must build organizations where those traits are visible in the day-to-day lives of adults. The Portrait of a Graduate should not be an instruction manual we give to youth—it should be a living documentary of what we show them. Otherwise, we risk building beautiful portraits that hang on walls, rather than walk through halls.
We do not become what others hope for us. We become what we see others become. Let us start there. Let us become unlikely artists, painting not only portraits of future graduates—but of ourselves.
Building Adult Culture as the Ecosystem for Graduates We Hope to Grow
If we accept the premise that the Portrait of a Graduate must begin with the behavior and presence of adults, then our next move is not to write better documents, but to craft ecosystems—places where adults are invited, supported, and expected to grow into the very traits we are asking our young people to embody. This means taking seriously the how, not just the what. We can no longer treat professional development as compliance and hiring as onboarding. We must treat these as culture-building rituals. The most unlikely—and promising—path forward is to design adult growth the way we wish we designed student growth: with dignity, clarity, curiosity, and care.
1. From Mandates to Mirrors: Sensitively Growing Adult Behaviors
Adults are not unfinished children. Yet in too many schools, culture-building among adults is approached with scripts, mandates, and checklists, which strip away agency and undermine intrinsic motivation. The first move is one of reverence: to believe that our adult colleagues want to be excellent and can be. This is not naïve—it’s foundational. We shift from management to mentorship, from training to trust-building.
We do this by creating structures that:
Acknowledge personal history and identity in the process of learning. This means using story-based reflection practices like learning autobiographies or “Portrait of Me as a Learner” journaling prompts.
Normalize developmental discomfort. Growth is awkward. But if we model psychological safety, we can help adults name what they are not yet good at without fear of shame. This is deep work—and it requires protocols that invite vulnerability without exposure.
Use sentence stems like “One thing I admire in others that I’m working on myself…” or “A trait from our Portrait I didn’t see modeled in my own schooling but hope to practice is…”
Peer partnerships or "growth duos" who meet monthly to reflect on how they’re living one trait from the Portrait in their role.
This is a sensitive, human-centered approach. It does not infantilize adults. It honors the truth that many of us are trying to become the people we never had modeled for us.
2. Designing a Developmental Ecosystem, Not Just a Workplace
To embed these ideas deeply, we need a visible and structured ecosystem that aligns everything—professional learning, meeting culture, feedback systems, leadership practice—around modeling and reinforcing these values.
Here are key design components:
The Learning Lab Model: Every adult has a “learning arc” for the year, tied to one or two Portrait traits. Like IEPs for educators, these are confidential, supported, and used to drive reflection and feedback loops.
360-Lens Feedback, But Portrait-Aligned: Instead of vague performance evaluations, create brief, high-trust check-ins where colleagues reflect on how someone contributes to the culture. Feedback can sound like: “When you handled that conflict, I saw emotional intelligence in action” or “You showed real adaptability during the schedule chaos last week.”
Leadership-as-Modeling: The principal, APs, deans—everyone in leadership—should be expected to publicly reflect on their own Portrait traits in team meetings. It flips leadership from authority to authenticity.
Ritualized Recognition: Celebrate Portrait behaviors in meetings and communications. Highlight a “Portrait Moment of the Week” where someone’s behavior becomes a shared cultural reference point.
3. Hiring for the Future Ecosystem: An Unlikely Interview Protocol
We can plant the seeds of culture before someone walks in the door. Traditional hiring protocols look for competence. We must look for compatibility and coachability.
Reimagined Interview Protocol: “Portrait Alignment Lab”
Rather than asking “Where do you see yourself in five years?” we design performance- and values-based experiences that surface character in real time.
Three Protocol Ideas:
Portrait Simulation: Invite candidates into a micro-team design session (30 minutes) with other candidates or staff. Give them a problem and a Portrait trait to emphasize (e.g., “Solve this scheduling conflict using empathy and adaptability”). Observe behaviors.
Growth Reflection Interview: Ask, “Which of our Portrait traits comes most naturally to you, and which challenges you? Tell us about a moment in the last year where you had to stretch into that less-natural trait.”
Values-in-Action Portfolio: Invite candidates to submit 1-2 artifacts (lesson plans, emails, letters to families, projects) with a short annotation showing where they demonstrated a Portrait trait—e.g., “I showed resilience in this parent letter because…”
Hiring Rubric Shift: Evaluate not just technical skill, but these three dimensions:
Alignment with Portrait values
Evidence of reflective practice
Openness to growth and feedback
Lastly, treat hiring as welcoming into culture, not staffing a vacancy. Onboarding becomes not logistics, but initiation. Include a Portrait Retreat where new staff reflect on the traits they will model and how they hope to grow.