Twenty states and 100s of districts around the country have adopted formal portrait of the competencies–skills, knowledge and habits–that high school graduates in their jurisdiction should possess when transitioning to work or higher education. Known as Portraits or Profiles of a Graduate, these descriptors are ideally designed to reform pedagogy, curriculum and assessment to allow school systems to better cultivate what communities want and need to see in their young people. In our Portrait of a Graduate Fact Sheet, we examine the landscape of these policies , their potential for driving genuine assessment reform, and the steps that are necessary to realize their intended promise.