A Holistic Approach to Education
By Denise Perreault
PBN Staff Writer
If there was a simple formula for success that The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center could share with other high schools, it would be the practice of taking a holistic approach to the physical, mental and intellectual welfare of each student. That is no easy task for an inner-city school, with campuses in South Providence and Newport, whose student population in general is strained by poverty and other potentially crippling societal ills.
But then again, The Met is no ordinary high school.
Some 65 percent of The Met’s students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. Many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, school officials say, due to community or family violence, persistent poverty, child abuse or substance abuse in the home. “The vast majority” have known someone killed in a violent way, estimated Maryellen Butke, director of organizational development. Yet, according to state statistics, The Met is one of the most successful schools in Rhode Island. From 2004 to 2008, the graduation rate was 94.5 percent, compared to the state average of 85.6 percent.
The Met, which is a state-funded school district, is one of only two districts in the state (the other is West Warwick) with its own health center, operated in conjunction with the Providence Community Health Center. The health center receives no state funding, and school officials said they are actively seeking partners and grants to keep it open. Bethany Baker, nurse practitioner, is one of two staffers to handle approximately 1,000 student visits each year, dealing with what she said are “the soup to nuts” of adolescent health needs, from runny noses to family planning. Students receive treatment at the health center whether they have health insurance or not.
The Met helps students “turn what they may see as an adversity in life into a positive,” said Vera Toro, director of social work and intern training. She spoke of students raised in severe poverty who volunteered at food pantries, helping the community while empowering themselves by fighting poverty. A girl who suffered from panic attacks studied anxiety disorders as her senior project, Toro said.
There is no stigma at The Met when a student seeks help from a counselor. “The kids see it as a real clear support, an extension of their education and self-awareness,” Toro said of counseling. She and Butke stressed that not every Met student is troubled. Some exceptional youngsters, Butke said, simply fit in better at The Met than they would at traditional high schools. Toro noted that some students need counseling simply to balance the school’s workload.
With a master’s degree and a doctorate in social work from Smith College, Butke started the intern program when she was hired at The Met in 2002. The interns come from such schools as Boston College, Brown University, Rhode Island College, the University of Rhode Island and Providence College, and usually are studying for master’s degrees. They work anywhere from 16 to 40 hours each week, providing what Toro said is the opportunity for increased one-on-one counseling sessions.
“What we probably do best is pay attention to the entire child,” Met founder and co-director Dennis “Doc” Littky told Providence Business News. Some 75 percent of Met students are from Providence, with 25 percent from other cities and towns. Students are chosen for The Met by lottery. They spend three days each week in class, with two days devoted to internships in the community, working at a wide range of businesses, nonprofits, schools and hospitals in Rhode Island. The internships start freshman year and continue the full four years.
The structure of The Met – small groups within small schools – is unique. With 690 students currently enrolled, The Met consists of six separate schools, five in Providence and one in Newport, with each school limited to no more than 120 students. The students are grouped into “cohorts” of 15 each, with a teacher/adviser assigned to the same cohort for four years so teachers know students well. Each of the six schools has its own social worker, assisted by one or two interns per school.
During the last eight years, 98 percent of Met students were accepted to college, with 75 percent the first in their families to do so. A 2006 survey revealed that 75 percent of the Met students who enrolled in college were still attending or had graduated; according to national averages, 50 percent of all college students drop out, and only 6 percent from the lowest socioeconomic level graduate. The state’s School Accountability for Learning and Teaching (SALT) surveys have consistently ranked The Met as first or second in the state for school climate, parent involvement, instruction and teacher availability. In 2003, as part of an effort to reform education, the state Board of Regents required every high school in the state to adopt some Met practices, including advisory cohorts, internships for students, and the requirement of a portfolio or special project to graduate.
The school was created in 1995, when Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Peter McWalters was looking for a new educational concept. He asked award-winning educators Littky and Elliot Washor to design a school for the 21st century. The two founded The Big Picture Company in 1995, a nonprofit, and the next year opened The Met as the first Big Picture Learning School in the nation, with just 50 students.
Today, the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (The Met) is one of 66 Big Picture schools across the country, with 19 overseas. Littky was the subject of an NBC made-for-television movie, “A Town Torn Apart,” about creation of the groundbreaking school. He is the author of “The Big Picture: Education is Everyone’s Business,” published in 2004. The Gates Foundation supported replication of the Big Picture Learning School model in other parts of the country.