The FCPS School Board recently adopted a new set of guiding principles known as the Portrait of a Graduate. The four main goals of this plan are student success, a caring culture, a premier workforce, and resource stewardship.

According to Christine Walsh Donohue, Superintendent Office Director of Operations, the Portrait of a Graduate will be the core of the strategic plan which will set long range goals for the school system.

“The Portrait of a Graduate is a set of skills that our community expects our graduates to know and be able to do upon graduation from FCPS,” Donohue said. “Last fall, we formed a broad-based community committee and asked them the skills necessary for our students to succeed in college and beyond. Then Dr. Garza took a set of questions to the participants of her Listening Tours last fall. We took the list of skills and sought input from Instructional Services, Special Services, principal, teachers, students, members of the Leadership Team and School Board.”

The School Board adopted the Portrait of a Graduate in September. It embodies five key skillsets, including those of the Communicator, Collaborator, Ethical and Global Citizen, Creative and Critical Thinker, and the Goal Directed and Resilient Individual.

“The Strategic Plan will provide a framework for decision making that builds upon the common mission, vision and guiding principles held by our community,” Donohue explained. “[It] is like a roadmap with goals, outcomes, indicators and strategies for administrators, teachers and students. We will use meaningful assessments to determine the success of the Strategic Plan and Portrait of a Graduate.”