Giunta says Portrait raises expectations and expands ways to demonstrate learning
Giunta says the Portrait of a Graduate was adopted in 2025 and shifts the conversation from what students complete to what they can demonstrate. She says this is not about lowering expectations but raising them, with examples like oral defenses, capstones, and portfolios, while academic rigor in core subjects remains essential.
The New York State Portrait of a Graduate was adopted by New York City Public Schools in 2025 and provides a shared vision for that future.
It shifts the conversation beyond what students complete and toward what students can demonstrate.
It asks us to create learning experiences that help young people become academically prepared, creative innovators, critical thinkers, effective communicators, global citizens, and reflective and future-focused learners.
Importantly, this work is not about lowering expectations.
It is about raising them.
For too long, a single measure has carried outsized weight in determining how readiness is defined.
Under New York Inspire, students will increasingly be asked to demonstrate their learning in authentic and meaningful ways.
They will be expected to apply knowledge, explain their thinking, solve authentic problems, and show evidence of growth and achievement over time.
This could look like an eighth grader being asked to do an oral defense rather than
just taking a test to demonstrate their academic knowledge as well as effective communication and critical thinking, two of our portrait of a graduate attributes.
Our goal is to expand opportunities that for one, that one for real world demonstrations of learning, capstones and portfolios, for instance.
Across New York City public schools, many schools already provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning in these effective ways, and we strive to expand that access.
Academic rigor remains essential.
As we expand academic foundations to include personal finance and climate education, we are not moving away from robust and rigorous literacy, math, science, social studies, and the arts.
They represent critical disciplinary knowledge and skills that students need to be successful.
Furthermore, our work through New York City Reads and New York City Solves provides the essential instructional foundation on which we are building our implementation of the portrait of a graduate and New York's inspires.
Shared research-based curricula that ensure every student engages in grade-level learning,
coupled with sustained professional learning and support for educators, will remain central to improving student achievement and preparing students to apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful ways.