Turning Graduate Portraits into Pathways

Many state leaders are rethinking students’ readiness for life after high school through the creation of portraits of a graduate, in which they name communication, collaboration, and critical thinking among the essential skills students need. But naming them is not enough. Schools need ways to teach, assess, and credential these competencies so that diplomas no longer risk becoming empty promises.

How will state boards of education know when students in their states have acquired the durable skills that will provide a foundation for their postsecondary success? And what sort of education system gives every learner a chance to prove they have these skills? ETS and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching issued a report in 2024 that identifies the conditions required to make skills count: prioritizing acquisition of durable skills in state accountability systems, modernizing transcripts and learner records, and aligning policy with practice.[1] Its findings speak to the urgency of setting these conditions:

• Nearly 70 percent of employers say graduates are underprepared in problem solving, communication, and teamwork.
• 83 percent of educators say their schools emphasize durable skills, but only 24 percent have tools to measure them.
• Four in five high school students want stronger connections between school and real-world skills. Fewer than 30 percent of high school students feel very prepared to pursue the educational or career paths that interest them most, according to a separate national survey.[2] Many expressed uncertainty, not just about college, but about employment, internships, apprenticeships, certificates, and other alternatives.

These insights catalyzed the launch of Skills for the Future, a partnership between ETS and the Carnegie Foundation that I lead. This initiative aims to help states turn their aspirational graduate portraits into proof of skills acquired—ensuring every learner leaves high school prepared for college, careers, and life.

Our partner states are working on innovative assessments:

• Scenario-based tasks. Students are asked to weigh evidence, analyze information, and make reasoned judgments, directly practicing the critical thinking demanded in college and career settings.

• AI simulations. Learners collaborate with peers in a digital environment, exercising creativity, adaptability, and collaboration in ways that mirror how problems are tackled in today’s workplaces.

North Carolina’s Portrait Work

In the North Carolina Portrait of a Graduate, leaders have named a comprehensive set of durable skills that its students should acquire.[3] But they did not stop there. They have taken meaningful steps to embed them in the daily work of schools.

In 2021, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction partnered with nonprofit Battelle for Kids to launch a grassroots effort that would define durable skills necessary for postsecondary success. Over 1,200 North Carolina educators, employers, students, and parents embarked on a three-phase process:

• In phase 1, they outlined seven durable skills graduates need to close the gap between what schools teach and what employers value: adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, empathy, a learner’s mindset, and personal responsibility.
• In phase 2 in 2002, they created “I can” statements and rubrics for all seven durable skills to enable teachers to integrate these skills into classroom instruction. Grouped into grade bands, teachers now access these resources on the education agency’s website. For example, a fourth grade ELA teacher can teach the skill “adaptability” by using the statement, “I can invite others to share ideas, beliefs, and practices,” and can evaluate students’ progress in developing this skill with the supplied rubric.
• Phase 3 continued work with educators to design performance tasks that exposed students to durable skills in hands-on ways that helped them make real-world connections. By the summer of 2024, teachers could access lesson plans aligned to state standards for all seven durable skills. For example, the same fourth grade teacher could build on a science unit about floods by asking students to create a blueprint for county leaders that answers the question, “What can a community do to lessen the impact of flooding?” Specifically, students can show critical thinking skills by explaining their ideas about how to solve the problem of community flooding best and why each idea makes sense.

Deep engagement with educators and employers, including annual employer needs surveys, shaped the North Carolina portrait. As a result, K-12, higher education, and the workforce, including the NC Chamber of Commerce, can now speak a shared language about durable skills.

Because North Carolina is a partner state in the Skills for the Future initiative, many of its districts will be piloting the next phase of this work over two years: measuring the seven durable skills with validity and reliability (box 1). This is a crucial first step if student learning is to be measured and showcased in ways other than the traditional transcript.

During a recent conversation with district leaders in the Mooresville Graded school district, a principal said, “For the first time, I feel like our high school diploma might actually reflect the whole student, not just a list of course credits.” While I applaud this educator’s excitement, there is much legacy thinking to address when it comes to reimagining how and what is assessed in K-12. Parents, teachers, central office leadership, legislators, and even students themselves struggle to imagine a world in which evaluating one’s ability to display personal responsibility is as important as a test grade on Hamlet. Yet ensuring that all learning is in service to success after high school should be the goal of a public education. And because what gets measured gets taught, future-ready skills must be included in state accountability systems.

Indiana’s Steps toward Alignment

Indiana state officials, under the leadership of Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, spent the past few years building the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed framework and removing barriers to its implementation.[4] They streamlined standards in 2023 to give teachers more space for skill development, aligned assessments to get academic feedback to teachers and students faster, and designed a new high school diploma that embeds durable skills into graduation requirements. In December 2024, the Indiana state board approved that diploma and has tied it to the state accountability system.

Scott Bess, a member of the Indiana State Board of Education, underscores the importance of coherence: “The key to all of this work is alignment. With the blocking and tackling of the core policy elements underway, we can now look to the future to operationalize this vision. This includes working with partners like ETS and Carnegie through Skills for the Future to design rigorous assessments of the durable skills that will help us provide a full picture of student accomplishments both inside the classroom and outside the school walls.”

Three districts in Indiana are planning pilots of innovative assessments to help educators understand how learners build and demonstrate these durable skills.

What State Boards Can Do

As a former member of the District of Columbia State Board of Education (2007–14), I know firsthand how powerful state boards can be in shaping student success and leading others in their states in fruitful conversations about durable skills. For state boards, the implications are clear and urgent. They can ask the following:

• Do our graduation requirements and portraits of a graduate encompass durable skills and competencies as well as core academics?
• Are we assessing the full range of skills and competencies?
• How are we helping districts build educator capacity to teach and measure these skills in addition to—and embedded in—traditional academic courses?
• Are all students, especially those who have been historically overlooked, getting robust opportunities to build and demonstrate these skills?
• What policy levers elevate skills of value without adding burden?
• How are we engaging employers to ensure there is alignment with workforce needs?
• Do our transcripts and learner records reflect what learners know and can do beyond test grades and scores?
• How does our system give students credit for the skills and knowledge they learn outside the classroom, through apprenticeships, jobs, family care, team sports, and other extracurricular activities?

From Intent to Impact

Indiana’s experience shows that when states tackle standards, assessments, and graduation requirements in concert, durable skills move from aspiration to reality. With clear alignment across policy, practice, and accountability, state boards can ensure that their portraits of a graduate and graduation requirements are not just statements of intent but drive coherent systems. The lesson is clear: When states commit to integration and alignment, students graduate with credentials that hold real value in college and careers.

In some cases, districts (or schools) adopt the state portrait wholesale. In others, local priorities may lead them to layer in locally derived skills or create distinct frameworks. These variations are usually complementary or additive rather than conflicting. Thus, districts may require additional or different competencies beyond the state’s expectations—and must decide how to measure those elements or gather authentic evidence. For example, NEAAT, a school in North Carolina, designed its own portrait to be intentionally aligned to the state’s, demonstrating how thoughtful integration can honor both state and local visions for student success.

In Indiana and North Carolina, assessments are key components of the work: assessments that capture what students know and provide them opportunities to demonstrate application of skills like critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Such assessments can help educators, families, and employers see beyond grades and test scores to the real-world strengths students can bring to the workplace and to their ongoing education.

Portraits of a graduate are powerful statements of intent. It is time for every state to turn portraits into pathways so that when students walk across the graduation stage, they carry not just a diploma, but proof they are ready for the future.

Notes

[1] Ou Lydia Liu et al., “A New Vision for Skills-Based Assessment,” report (ETS and Carnegie Foundation, 2024).

[2] Based on “Walton Family Foundation-Gallup Voices of Gen Z Study” (Jobs for the Future, Gallup, and Walton Family Foundation, 2025).

[3] Maggie Smith, “Are Portrait of a Graduate Skills Important to NC Jobs?” labor and economic analysis (North Carolina Department of Commerce, July 11, 2024).

[4] Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed, website.