Students cannot be expected to demonstrate a skill or disposition unless they have first had opportunities to learn and practice it.

Learn
Students develop an understanding of each skill and disposition through instruction, modeling, discussion, examples, and reflection. They learn what the skill means, why it matters, and what it looks like in different situations.

Practice
Students apply the skill in supported and authentic experiences. They receive feedback, reflect on their progress, make adjustments, and continue building confidence.

Demonstrate
Students independently apply the skill and show evidence of their growth through classroom learning, projects, performances, athletics, activities, leadership, service, work-based learning, relationships, and other real-world experiences.
These three stages are not a one-time sequence. Students move through them repeatedly as the skills become more complex and their independence grows.

The Portrait of a Learner is not limited to a particular class, grade level, program, or group of students.

Every student, every year, will have opportunities to Learn, Practice, and Demonstrate all five Portrait skills and dispositions:

Mindful | Thinker | Problem Solver | Communicator | Resilient

The specific experiences may look different by grade level, subject area, or student, but the commitment remains the same. Every student will be supported in recognizing their strengths, identifying areas for growth, and making progress over time.

The Portrait of a Learner is intentionally aligned both vertically and horizontally.

Vertical alignment means that opportunities build from one grade level to the next. Students revisit the same five skills and dispositions each year, but the expectations, experiences, and level of independence grow over time.

Horizontal alignment means that students encounter the Portrait across subjects, classrooms, programs, and experiences within the same grade level. The skills are not owned by one teacher or one course. They are developed throughout the student’s school experience.

This alignment helps ensure that students are not starting over each year. Instead, each new experience builds on what they have already learned, practiced, and demonstrated.

The Portrait of a Learner is focused on the whole student.

It is not based on the belief that students are missing these skills. Every student already brings strengths, experiences, perspectives, and developing dispositions. Our role is to help students recognize what is already present, provide feedback and support, and create new growth opportunities.

Learning, practicing, and demonstrating the five skills and dispositions does not happen only in the classroom or during the school day. Students develop and apply these skills in many settings, including athletics, clubs, performances, leadership opportunities, work experiences, service activities, family responsibilities, relationships, and community involvement.

• Recognize and celebrate their strengths
• Identify areas where they want or need to grow
• Set goals and make progress
• Select evidence that shows their development
• Reflect on what they have learned
• Explain how the five skills and dispositions support one another
• Apply these skills in new and unfamiliar situations

The goal is not for every student to demonstrate growth in the same way. The goal is for every student to understand their own development and take greater ownership of it.

Students need a way to collect, reflect on, and share evidence of their growth. Portland Public Schools will use a student-owned digital portfolio to make that learning visible over time.

The portfolio will allow students to capture meaningful examples from both inside and outside the school day. Evidence may come from classroom learning, extracurricular activities, athletics, employment, volunteer service, family responsibilities, community involvement, personal goals, and other authentic experiences.

• Classroom assignments and projects
• Presentations and performances
• Problem-solving experiences
• Leadership and service
• Athletics and extracurricular activities
• Career and work-based learning
• Employment and volunteer experiences
• Community and family responsibilities
• Personal accomplishments and goals
• Photographs, videos, and other media
• Feedback and student reflections

The portfolio is not intended to store every assignment or activity a student completes. It is a place for students to select meaningful evidence that represents their learning, growth, and development as a Contributor.

As students add evidence to their portfolios, they will tag it to one or more of the five Portrait skills and dispositions. Over time, these tags will help students see patterns in their growth, recognize their strengths, identify areas for continued development, and understand how the skills work together across school, work, home, and life. 

By including experiences beyond the classroom and school day, the portfolio helps students understand that the five skills and dispositions are transferable. They are used wherever students learn, work, build relationships, face challenges, and contribute.

Because the portfolio follows students across grade levels, it will help them recognize patterns in their growth, connect experiences from different parts of their lives, and see how their skills continue to develop over time.

At key transition points, students will participate in a formal reflection experience known as a Defense of Learning.

Defenses of Learning will take place in:
Grade 2 | Grade 5 | Grade 8 | Grade 12

During a Defense of Learning, students will use evidence from their digital portfolio to explain their growth across the five Portrait skills and dispositions.

• What are my strengths?
• Where have I grown?
• What evidence shows that growth?
• What challenges have I faced?
• What areas do I still want to develop?
• How do the five skills and dispositions work together?
• How can I use these skills in the next stage of my life?

The audience and format will be designed to match the age and readiness of the students. Younger students may share their learning with teachers, school staff, and families. As students grow older, the district intends to expand the audience to include community members, local businesses, employers, and other partners.

Involving people beyond the school gives students an authentic audience and reinforces that the Portrait of a Learner extends beyond the classroom. It also allows community partners to see how students are developing the skills and dispositions needed to contribute in school, work, and life.

The Defense of Learning is not simply a presentation. It is an opportunity for students to take ownership of their development, explain who they are becoming, and identify where they want to go next.

The ultimate goal of the Portrait of a Learner is for students to understand themselves as learners and Contributors.
Students should leave Portland Public Schools able to recognize and celebrate their strengths, identify areas for continued growth, and explain how the five skills and dispositions support one another.

• In the classroom
• In the workplace
• At home
• In relationships
• In the community
• In unfamiliar situations
• Throughout life

When students understand their strengths, continue developing areas of growth, and apply the five Portrait skills and dispositions with purpose, they are prepared to contribute wherever their path takes them.

As we gained feedback to develop Portland’s Portrait of a Learner, one idea consistently connected the feedback we received: in Portland, we are Contributors.

We believe that being a Raider means being a Contributor, and being a Contributor means continuing to learn, grow, and improve. Through our Portrait of a Learner, we are excited to work alongside our students as they recognize their strengths, develop areas for growth, and become Contributors in school, at work, at home, in the community, and throughout life.