“I
find myself looking back through my work. My portfolio makes
me see how much I’ve improved. It puts everything I’m
doing in one place. It makes me look at everything and be
proud of it.”
-
a Big Picture School student
Learning at a Big Picture School should be seen as a learning
process that is accentuated with quality products.
There are high
expectations for each student at Big Picture Schools. The criteria
of assessment are individualized to the student and the real world
standards of a project (as gauged by the internship mentor). Students
engaged in this process at Big Picture Schools are not assessed
by tests and are not given grades.
The assessments at a Big Picture
School include public exhibitions (one per quarter or trimester
which track growth, progress, and quality of work in the learning
plan and academic depth in the learning goals); weekly check-in
meetings with advisors; weekly journals; yearly presentation portfolios;
and, transcripts (to translate the information in a way colleges
can understand). Gateways for students’ progress are between
10th and 11th grade and at graduation.
Essential Elements of Authentic Assessment include:
Quarterly exhibitions
Portfolios (yearly and
gateway)
Narrative assessments
(self and advisor)
Real-world standards for
assessment guidelines
No grades
Weekly individual check-ins
(advisor and student)
Journaling to reflect
on learning at least 3 times per week
Gateway to Senior Institute
(ritual and exhibition structure)
Graduation readiness
Autobiographies (75 to
100 pages for seniors as a graduation requirement)
Depth of work
Academic transcripts ~
working transcripts
Big Picture 101, 201,
301, 401
Parents, mentors, staff
and multi-grade peers attend exhibitions
“In
eleventh grade I had an ‘a ha’ moment during a
re-doing of an exhibition. Everything kind of clicked and
I did an awesome exhibition. After that I began to understand
what The Met was trying to teach me. But more importantly
I was learning who I was. And I suppose that is the meaning
of my education at The Met. But really it is just the beginning
of realizing who I am. And to be honest I can’t wait
to go to college to be on my own. For me The Met has been
some kind of launching pad set for the sky because after all
the sky is the limit (meaning no limit). I can do anything
I want and I owe it to myself to do what I want.”
–
from a Big Picture School student's senior speech
