By Lily C. Talcott, with help from Laura Havill, Geoff Hinman, Rachel Beiswanger and James DeKay
As I reflect on the incredible energy humming across our district this fall, my mind keeps returning to the transformative work our educators undertook over the summer. Across New York State, we are navigating a fundamental shift in education: moving past the traditional question of "what do students know?" toward a deeper, far more inspiring question: "who are our students becoming?" This summer, a dedicated group of about a dozen educators stepped up to bring that exact question to life through the lens of the New York State Portrait of a Graduate.
To understand how this work unfolded, you only need to look at the thoughtful framework designed by Laura Havill, who is the Instructional Coach for Smith School. Laura put together a 15-hour summer curriculum experience that brought teachers together in collaborative, co-teaching pairs to redesign units of study. Guided by an intentional Portrait of a Graduate Unit Design Workbook, Laura grounded the team in Understanding by Design (UbD) principles.
I think what struck me most about Laura's framework was how it reframed assessment. Instead of relying on traditional tests or point-driven quizzes, she introduced the "GRASPS" model: focusing on Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Product/Performance, and Standards. This shift took assessment away from being a disconnected hoop to jump through and turned it into an authentic demonstration of learning, where a student’s final product might be a letter, a screenplay, or a civic proposal tailored to a real-world audience. The best assessment is, after all, indistinguishable from learning.
When you examine what our teachers created through this process, the results are nothing short of inspiring.
Take the persuasive writing unit co-developed by reading teacher Rachel Beiswanger and her colleague Kayleigh Bell. Designed around the Portrait attributes of Effective Communicator, and Critical Thinker, their unit guides students from basic claim-and-evidence structures to analyzing audience, purpose, and perspective. Rachel shared that their deepest hope is for students to realize their ideas and voices have real value, and that writing is a vehicle for communication, self-advocacy, and positive change. They built in intentional space for students to take ownership of their writing process, make choices about evidence, and independently choose and use accommodations. As Rachel expressed, this work helped them focus deeply on the why behind the unit, shaping not just what students learn, but the kind of thinkers and communicators they become.
In World Languages, Spanish teacher James DeKay took a holistic approach by grounding his instruction in solid language acquisition theory. By embedding all six Portrait attributes into his lessons, James created a contextualized, rigorous environment where language learning becomes a natural pathway for developing agency, critical thinking, and global communication simultaneously.
To ensure our students can capture and reflect on this growth over time, Geoff Hinman, Library Media Specialist at Smith School, developed a visionary digital portfolio system. Geoff designed a master Google Site Portfolio template pre-structured around core Portrait attributes, including Critical Thinker, Effective Communicator, Creative Innovator, Global Citizen, and Reflective Practices for emotional regulation. Geoff envisions library time as a space where middle and high school students actively curate their work, engage in metacognition, and build a lasting digital footprint that follows them throughout their educational journey.
As these units take flight in our classrooms, I am reminded that good planning remains the beating heart of great teaching. By intentionally weaving the Portrait of a Graduate into our everyday practice, our educators are equipping students not just to succeed in school, but to learn, grow, and contribute meaningfully to the world beyond.