When seventh-grader Rykien Evans’ wheelchair got stuck in the grassy terrain during Copper Mountain Middle School’s traditional Running of the Colts, his friend Nate Wegwitz picked him up and carried him. Other students moved the empty wheelchair to the paved path and the friends finished the 1-mile race together.

“At times I walked with him, at times I picked him up—we wanted to finish the race,” Nate said.

Spectators were impressed with the empathy, resilience, responsibility, creativity and collaborative problem solving exhibited by the boys. Nate said sportsmanship, teamwork and having fun are emphasized in PE classes. Rykien said Copper Mountain Middle also incentivizes students to perform and report acts of kindness during an annual Kindness Week.

“The school heavily encourages us to be kind and to include everybody, and they obviously do a good job, because it’s working,” said Rykien, who has many friends.

The exemplary character and abilities these students exhibited are the characteristics Jordan District wants their graduates to have when they venture out into the world. Creative problem solvers, engaged citizens, empathetic communicators, resilient learners, responsible teammates and curious thinkers are the characteristics identified in Jordan School District’s new Portrait of a Graduate and 5-year strategic plan for preparing students for post-high school success.

These characteristics were selected based on feedback from students, parents, educators, community members and business and religious leaders.

Education Elements, hired by Jordan District to collect public comments, conducted various focus groups and analyzed data from 20,763 survey responses. Many of the comments were about equitable access to learning opportunities, student and staff wellness, effective communication and the need for collaboration skills.

“Education Elements said we got a lot of really good feedback, and it is overwhelmingly positive,” JSD Administrator of Teaching & Learning Carolyn Gough said. “They said they’ve never seen a district receive this much positive feedback.”

Committees of board members, educators, parents and students used the feedback to develop the Portrait of a Graduate and strategic plan.

“It was really a privilege to be able to take time to think about every single comment that came in and to place it on real people,” JSD Board Member Niki George said. “We got into small groups and talked about different topics, and every group that I was in, I heard personal stories from each of them, and it really helped me to remember the ‘why’ of what we do and the effort that we make.”

Gough said the board’s decision to create a Portrait of a Graduate document reflects their understanding of the need to align education with current technology and workforce environments.

“Portrait of a Graduate really hearkens to the fact that we’re in the 21st century,” Gough said. “We’ve moved beyond just giving factual information to students and we’re moving more towards the skill-based attributes that students are going to need when they enter into the business world, colleges or a trade.”

Committee member and PTA Region 6 Administrator Jessica Navarro said the document addresses all types of students and options.

“There isn’t one cookie-cutter model of a ‘quality education’ and a 4-year university isn’t the best fit for every student,” she said. “There are resources available to every student to leave JSD feeling prepared for a successful future, where they can contribute to our society. I want students to know that their school is a safe place to explore options and feel like they have access to people that know how to guide them through that process.”

The 5-year strategic plan was based on the five pillars of high quality instruction, culture of belonging, opportunities for all learners, effective communication and student and staff wellness. It will be the lens the board and school administrators will use to evaluate and make logistical and fiscal decisions, Gough said.

“It provides a great vision, an overarching goal and expectations based on very specific community feedback,” she said. “It helps narrow some of the competing voices, ideologies and curricula—all the things that are out there trying to take principals’ and teachers’ time.”

Administrators and teachers will receive training over the summer to learn to implement systems that help students develop the skills identified in the new documents.

Navarro said seeing the way the community and educators worked together to create the document and plan makes her hopeful for the future of Jordan School District.

“I see this document impacting my childrens’ future by establishing a great foundation where all of the people involved in their education can be aligned on the goals and priorities that we felt were the most important,” she said.  λ