State Board Voice: Kentucky’s Portrait of a Learner

Many Kentucky schools and districts have journeyed toward deeper, more personalized learning as a path to equity for all learners. As part of that journey, educational leaders across the commonwealth are developing portraits of a learner—sometimes called portraits of a graduate—to redefine and enhance expectations for preK-12 learners and on into postsecondary. A portrait can serve as an Archimedean lever that ultimately makes the learner experience more personally relevant, engaging, and reflective of the learning and career challenges that students will face in the fast-paced, interconnected, tech-driven world of 2023.

When the Kentucky Board of Education adopted the Kentucky Portrait of a Learner in October 2022, we joined several other states that have adopted state-level portraits. In so doing, we hoped to model the process and cast a vision that embraced the power of locally adopted portraits. It is our hope that all Kentucky districts will follow suit—by defining, communicating, and measuring the skills and dispositions that are critical to student success. Simply put, a portrait of a learner is an agreed-upon set of aspirations for what every learner will know and be able to do when they transition to their next phase.