A Protocol to Help School Leaders Turn Reflection Into Action

What does it really mean to prepare our students for a future we can’t fully see yet?This is a question that goes beyond curriculum, instruction, or strategy—it challenges school leaders to design professional learning that equips educators to help students build the skills and mindsets needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

In professional learning, leaders often face the same challenge: How do we move beyond surface-level conversations to deeper reflection, meaning-making, and action? Many states, including New York, have developed a Portrait of a Graduate, a framework that paints a picture of what it means to graduate ready for the future. It defines the essential skills and competencies students should carry with them when they leave high school, serving as both a vision and a guide for educators and leaders.

As we considered how to implement the Portrait of a Graduate, our leadership team designed “Layering Learning” as a reflective, step-by-step protocol for professional learning that guides participants through multiple stages of engagement, helping them pause, connect, expand, and ultimately translate insights into leadership moves.

Portrait of a graduate

Many states, including New York, have developed a Portrait of a Graduate, a framework that paints a picture of what it means to graduate ready for the future. It defines the essential skills and competencies students should carry with them when they leave high school, serving as both a vision and a guide for educators and leaders.

New York’s Portrait of a Graduate includes six components. Understanding the attributes isn’t about memorizing a list of traits or checking off boxes. It’s about internalizing their meaning, making them part of how we think, teach, and lead. It’s about connecting these traits to the heart of what it means to learn, grow, and prepare learners to navigate and contribute to an evolving world. 

A graduate should be the following:

• Academically prepared, building a strong foundation in core learning standards and applying knowledge and skills to succeed in college, careers, civic life, and beyond.
• A creative innovator, using imagination and flexible thinking to solve problems, adapt, and generate new ideas.
• A critical thinker, analyzing information thoughtfully, evaluating evidence, and making connections across disciplines to navigate complex issues.
• An effective communicator, clearly expressing ideas through speaking, writing, and media, while listening and engaging with a variety of perspectives.
• A global citizen, acting responsibly and ethically in local, global, and digital communities, contributing positively to a diverse and democratic society.
• Reflective and future-focused, setting goals through self-reflection, making responsible decisions, and sustaining well-being while preparing for future challenges.

The six attributes are not just aspirational; they reflect the skills and mindsets students need to thrive in a complex, culturally interconnected, and technology-driven world. While artificial intelligence is one example of how technology is transforming the future, the larger point is that rapid advances in technology only heighten the importance of human-centered skills like collaboration, creativity, and ethical decision-making.

implementing the layering learning protocol

When introducing this professional learning experience to leadership teams, we used the Layering Learning protocol to move beyond simply reading the list and definitions of the competencies. This included sessions where we analyzed the framework and reflected on what it means for our roles as educators, which prepares us to continue designing opportunities for students to engage in learning experiences connected to each of the six attributes.

The process gave participants space to reflect on their own learning experiences, examine the role of technology in shaping the future, and connect the framework back to their leadership practice. This same protocol can also be applied within professional learning communities for any priority, district goal, or initiative to deepen collaboration, reflection, and shared understanding.

Layer 1: Pause and reflect. Facilitators can begin by presenting an idea, priority, or initiative. Let’s use the Portrait of a Graduate framework to model the protocol. Participants are invited to reflect on guiding questions:

• Why were the six components selected?
• What does this mean for the students we serve?

This reflection opens the door for personal connection to the work.

Layer 2: Connect to personal experience. Facilitators model by sharing a personal story about how they came to understand these competencies, not through theory but through lived experience. Participants are then invited to reflect:

• When have you, as a learner, developed these competencies?
• What learning experiences shaped your own growth in these areas?

This layer helps participants realize that these are not just competencies for students, but competencies for life.

Layer 3: Find inspiration through media. Introduce an inspirational video such as This Hand, from the Institute for Humane Education. After watching, participants revisit their reflections and “layer their learning” by jotting down new insights. Then, they turn and talk with a colleague to share how their thinking has expanded and how these competencies come to life in the students they serve.

Layer 4: Relate to technology. Introduce a clip such as Richard Culatta’s keynote at the ASCD/ISTE Conference, where he shares the concept of the Portrait of an AI Graduate. While the conversation touches on AI readiness, the focus remains on the human components that cannot be replaced, such as collaboration, creativity, ethical decision-making, and empathy. Participants then reflect again:

• How does the evolving landscape of technology further elevate the importance of these competencies?
• What new skills may be emerging, and how do they connect back to our mission of preparing students for a future we can’t fully predict?

Layer 5: Synthesize and look forward. In the final layer, participants engage with curated classroom videos highlighting instructional practices through the lens of specific Portrait of a Graduate components. Teams zoom out to consider:

• What implications does this have for how we design learning experiences?
• How do we ensure that our schools cultivate not only academic excellence but also the mindsets and skills that students need to thrive in a rapidly changing world?

Leaders then synthesize their layered reflections and translate them into action steps and leadership goals. Learning is not linear: It’s iterative, reflective, and deeply personal. As educators, we must give ourselves the same space to grapple, connect, and expand that we strive to give our students.

Layering Learning reminds us that understanding grows through multiple lenses—personal experience, shared media, emerging realities, and collaborative dialogue. In other contexts, this has looked like guiding professional learning communities through collaborative curriculum planning or facilitating school-based discussions that connect instructional practices to future-ready skills. When leaders model this process, they set the tone for how schools can do the same for students. Preparing future-ready graduates is more than a checklist of skills; it’s about nurturing thoughtful, empathetic, adaptable humans who can navigate whatever comes next.