Beech Tree Elementary has been working toward building our Portrait of a Graduate (POG) skills this year.  Teachers received training in March to help them feel comfortable incorporating the skills into the classroom.   You can watch this  video, or the one below, to see why these skills are so important for kids to practice in school as well as out of school. 

To help parents support their child at home with building these skills, Fairfax County Public Schools has published a helpful guide on their website.  Take some time to read through the information and try to use the sentence stems to engage with your child. 

This initiative is setting up Beech Tree to be successful for next year when our schools begins Portrait of a Graduate Presentations of learning (POG POL) in classes so students can demonstrate growth toward POG outcomes. 

What is POG POL?

POG POL is a student-led assessment process, with an intentional focus on one of the five POG attributes. POG POL focuses on individual student growth, not a benchmark. It is an opportunity for students to celebrate their strengths and identity as a learner. As a division, our goal is for student POG growth to be measured through Portrait of a Graduate Presentations of Learning (POG POL) by the school year 2025-2026.

In 2021, FCPS received the School Division of Innovation Designation by VDOE.   This designation formalizes the commitment to scaling POG POL for all students by 2025-2026.

State Announcement: State Board of Education Recognizes Innovative School Divisions - School Board approved innovation plan

More information about POL can be found on FCPS' website.