Community, no, County engagement!!
Education. The word itself means lots of things to lots of people and can be the beginning of great debates. The definition of which includes the word school.
School. Everyone went to school. It is one of the few things that we all have in common, which conjures distinct memories for all of us.
The purpose of this education that takes place in school, regardless of how you define or remember it, has certainly evolved over the last 150 years. Feeling the need to have a locally developed north star as a guide, the school districts in Washington County decided to collaborate on the creation of a Portrait of a Graduate for Washington County students. This “Portrait” is a thing and a process. The process leads to the creation of a graphic that includes agreed upon competencies that we feel our students should possess when they graduate.
In March, the six school districts and the Career Center, with the help of Building Bridges to Careers and Battelle for Kids, laid out a plan to reach many different stakeholders from around the county. Over all, 18 meetings took place and over 300 people were engaged in the conversation. The list included educators, both K-12 and higher education, businesses, government and other types of agencies and organizations that will eventually employ our youth. The very first meeting was kicked off by a panel of high school students that were in the midst of an internship experience. Everyone was asked the same three questions:
What types of career awareness and development experiences are important for all students?
What is the future of work, and how prepared are Washington County students?
What is our expectation of a high school graduate in Washington County?
Discussions were rich and exploratory, insightful and thought provoking. Definitions and uses of the competencies were quite varied, which increased the complexity of choosing the ones we think are needed for Washington County. In the end, critical thinking and communication were unanimously chosen, with adaptability right behind them. These are the 3 that are bigger and bolder in the graphic, with the other 3 having the highest percentages on each list.
As this is only the beginning of this conversation, there will be more to say on the topic of a Portrait of a Graduate as the school districts move forward with determining how to use and implement it. For now, please check out the page on our website that includes ways that everyone can get involved. Print out the documents, share them and discuss them, hang up the Portrait graphic in your place of work. Because, through this process we have not only engaged the county, but we have determined some common ground between us all. Common ground is what will help us (the village) raise each child.