Pleasant Valley unveils ‘Profile of a Graduate’

Citizens. Critical thinkers. Communicators.

These are just a few of the words Pleasant Valley School District is using to describe its ideal high school graduate.

Superintendent David Piperato unveiled the results Thursday of a yearlong process to create the district’s “Profile of a Graduate.”

“This will become the foundation for examining and transforming Pleasant Valley’s educational system,” Piperato said of the profile. “It is the target we are setting for all of our educational endeavors.”

Pleasant Valley started with a design committee made up of 39 members of the district family and then extended to focus groups made up of professionals from the community.

Director Dan Wunder said that group ranged from plumbers to politicians, business owners to police officers, military members and more.

“The outcome of this is phenomenal,” Wunder said, “but the real magic of this took place in the development. I have never seen the diverse number of people in this community who came together and reacted with our educators. We gained a better understanding of what they are looking for, and they gained a better understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

After the focus group meeting, the district’s team reconvened to glean data and information from the session. Piperato said what came out of it was a combination of the “knowledge, skills and habits of mind that are essential for students to respond to a changing world.”

The eight habits of mind, or characteristics, are all accompanied by a sentence starting with “I,” that describes who Pleasant Valley wants its graduates to be.

They include:

• Citizens, “I work to positively influence my greater community.”

• Critical thinkers, “I will apply my knowledge accurately to multiple contexts.”

• Communicators, “I explore and exchange ideas with others.”

• Autonomous, “I know myself as a learner and make my own learning choices.”

• Resilient, “I control myself physically and emotionally.”

• Creative, “I challenge or extend current thinking in my area of passion.”

• Knowledgeable, “I have mastered foundational knowledge and I can access any further content I may need.”

• Collaborators, “I successfully work with others to accomplish mutual goals.”

Piperato said the district will use the profile to determine whether what it is doing in the classrooms is leading to these skills and habits of mind.

“It allows us to take a look at, how is what we’re doing preparing students for life after graduation?” he said.

Board President Sue Kresge said she is equally excited to see how things play out.

“I’m thrilled with the outcome and can’t wait to see where we go from here,” she said.