More than 30 attendees gathered to explore what it truly means to prepare students for the future and how to activate and sustain a Portrait of a Graduate as a lived practice across a school community at a pre‑conference workshop Wednesday afternoon titled “Co‑Designing the Portrait: Engaging Communities in Future‑Ready Learning through the Public Education Promise.”
The event took place at Nashville’s Music City Center, one day prior to the start of AASA’s 2026 National Conference on Education.
The panel consisted of Colon Lewis, vice president of Leadership Network at AASA; Kalia M. Reynolds, deputy superintendent/chief academic officer of the West Chester Area School District in Pennsylvania; and Paula B. Wilkins, chief academic officer of Winston‑Salem/Forsyth County Schools in North Carolina. The session invited participants into a hands-on, community-rooted exploration of transforming a portrait from a static document into a “living promise.”
From the start, Lewis encouraged movement and connection, asking attendees to meet someone new and share why they came to the session and where their portrait work currently stands. The room quickly filled with stories about school districts just beginning the journey, others strengthening existing work and some trying to revive efforts that had lost momentum.
Participants rotated through conversations centered on simple but revealing questions: Why are you here? What’s the status of your portrait? What do you hope to take back?
Reynolds described her Pennsylvania district’s portrait work as a way to bring clarity and cohesion to initiatives already in motion. She emphasized that the portrait needed to feel embedded in the community rather than introduced as something new and flashy. Guided by broad stakeholder input, the district identified five core competencies—adaptability, communication, empathy, problem solving and responsibility—that now help unify conversations about teaching and learning.
Wilkins explained that her school district entered the portrait work during a period of transition and found grounding in the statewide North Carolina portrait. She emphasized that each community must interpret the competencies for itself, making them visible and actionable for educators and students. For Wilkins, the portrait’s purpose is clear: ensuring students are prepared “today with skills to respond to a changing tomorrow.”
A highlight of the workshop was a scenario‑based activity prompting attendees to consider how quickly the world is changing. Participants shared memories of school rituals long gone—smoking ramps, clapping erasers, even students driving school buses—using humor to open a serious conversation about what skills today’s students need most.
Throughout the afternoon, one message echoed: a Portrait of a Graduate becomes real only when communities co‑own it and commit to living it. As Wilkins reflected, “This work is heavy and good work … but the step is the most important thing we take.”
(Amiela Arcellana is a reporter with Conference Daily Online and AASA’s marketing coordinator.)