The Oxford Community Schools administrative team has been diligently defining our expectations of student achievement over the past year. The result of this work is our Portrait of a Graduate. Our Portrait of a Graduate articulates our shared vision for all Oxford graduates as a result of their educational experiences in Oxford Community Schools.
Oxford administrators created the Portrait of a Graduate with input gathered from stakeholder surveys, literature on educational trends and 21st century learning, data generated from OCS, requirements of the Michigan Merit Curriculum, principles and practices of the International Baccalaureate programme, along with future employment opportunities and student career aspirations.
The first section of the Portrait of a Graduate outlines the characteristics (based on traits found in the International Baccalaureate Learning Profile) and the competencies (skills required to be a productive citizen) that we believe are necessary for all students to be successful. The second section of the document titled, “Conditions for Learning” establishes our vision for the learning environment to allow each student to develop to his or her potential.
We encourage every stakeholder in our district to print the Portrait of a Graduate document and keep it as a compass as we work each day to fulfill our mission: “To provide an education that challenges all students to achieve their maximum potential in academics, arts, and athletics and prepares them to succeed in a global society.” We are using the Portrait of a Graduate to guide our work with our district strategic plan. The resulting strategic plan will help us create the conditions to instill in our students the characteristics and competencies deemed necessary to thrive in a global society. The Portrait of a Graduate will be an integral tool used to measure our journey as we fulfill our vision “To create a world-class education today to shape tomorrow’s leaders.”