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New York state has taken an important and commendable step forward. With the Board of Regents’ adoption of a statewide Portrait of a Graduate, the state has made clear that preparing students for the future requires more than test scores, credits and compliance. Skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, adaptability and civic engagement are now central to what it means to graduate from a New York school.
That shift matters. In a world shaped by artificial intelligence, economic uncertainty and rapid change, students need more than academic knowledge. They need the capacity to navigate complexity, adjust when plans change, and chart meaningful futures. But a critical question now faces educators across the state:
Will New York’s Portrait of a Graduate live in classrooms, or remain a poster on the wall?
Across the country, we have seen districts do the hard work of developing graduate portraits. Communities engage. Language is refined. Graphics are created. Posters go up. And then, too often, the work stalls. Students can recite the attributes, but they don’t practice them. Teachers value the vision, but lack the structures and tools to translate it into everyday learning.
This is not a lack of commitment. It is an implementation gap.
Vision is episodic, teaching is daily
New York’s portrait is promising because it is intentionally connected to deeper learning, culturally responsive education, multiple pathways to graduation and performance-based assessment. That alignment sends the right message. Still, experience tells us that vision alone does not change outcomes. Creating a portrait happens once. Teaching toward it must happen every day. Without concrete classroom practices, advising routines and student-facing tools, even the strongest portrait risks becoming symbolic rather than transformational.
The danger is not that schools will ignore the Portrait of a Graduate. The danger is that they will admire it without using it.
What’s missing: student agency and hope
For the portrait to matter, it must connect directly to how students see themselves and their futures. This is where hope becomes essential.
Hope is not optimism or positive thinking. It is a learnable skill: the ability to set meaningful goals, identify multiple pathways and take action when obstacles arise. Hope is strongly linked to academic persistence, achievement and mental well-being.
A Portrait of a Graduate becomes real only when students can say:
These skills (or qualities) matter to my future.
I know how to practice them.
I can use them when plans change.
Without that connection, portraits remain aspirational statements rather than drivers of engagement and growth.
Moving from portrait to practice
Schools do not need another initiative; they need practical ways to embed the portrait into daily learning. Organizations such as Brilliant Pathways, which has spent decades working with schools in underserved rural and urban communities, offer useful lessons.
Their work centers on helping students actively plan their futures. Tools like the Scholar Map™ and the 10-Point Plan™ ask students to identify interests, explore careers, set goals, build support networks and plan next steps toward college, credentials and careers. Importantly, this is not a one-time activity. It is a routine students revisit and refine over time. Brilliant Pathways’ success helping educators embed their Essential Skills™ into classroom activities can serve as an example of how to do the same with the “qualities” of the portrait.
The Brilliant Pathways approach can help turn graduate attributes into lived experience.
Three shifts New York schools can make now
- Translate portrait attributes into student actions.
“Effective communicator” should mean presenting to authentic audiences. “Critical thinker” should mean revising work based on feedback. “Self-directed learner” should mean setting and tracking goals. Students need regular opportunities to practice these skills, not just see them listed.
- Embed the portrait across advisory and instruction.
Advisory time can focus on goals, pathways, and support systems. Core classes can reinforce the same competencies through authentic tasks. Same Portrait. Same language. Different contexts. Consistent expectations.
- Make hope the engine of implementation.
Students must learn that success is not linear. When one pathway is blocked, another can be found. When a plan fails, the response should be agency, not resignation. This mindset transforms the portrait from an expectation into an empowerment tool.
A living promise to New York’s students
New York’s Portrait of a Graduate represents a powerful promise: You are more than a test score, and your future demands adaptability, purpose and contribution. That promise will only be fulfilled if the portrait becomes something students use, not just something schools display.
The opportunity facing New York is significant. If the state pairs its bold vision with everyday classroom practice and grounds the work in student agency and hope, the Portrait of a Graduate can move from poster to powerful and from aspiration to transformation.