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School Organization

Big Picture Schools use time, people, facilities, resources, and space in unique ways.

One of the small Met schools in Providence.

The Big Picture Company believes that all students should have the opportunity to learn in a place where people know each other well and treat each other with respect. Schools must be small -- small enough that every student has genuine relationships with adults and other students and no one falls through the cracks. From assessment tools to the design of the school building itself, a truly personalized school approaches each student and situation with a mind to what is best for the individual and the community.

The organizing principle of Big Picture Schools is to educate one student at a time. In order to carry out our design each school is no more than 150 students, with no more than 17 students (1:15 is strongly recommended) in an advisory. Students work in one on one and small group learning environments around their interests and needs both in and outside of school doing authentic work.

An advisory room at Shenandoah High School in California.

Each school is a small community of learning and is also part of a system of small schools in their locale and part of the network of Big Picture Schools. School facilities are small, personalized and are organized to facilitate the Big Picture programmatic design. This is reflected in the outside-in, inside-out design of the schools where real world learning occurs in the community as well as in the school. The design necessitates an interdependence between the school and the community.

A Big Picture School cannot exist in a vacuum outside of the community. The core of the students’ education is the Learning Through Internship (LTI). As a result, the community plays an integral role in the educational success of the school.

Essential Elements of School Organization Include:

Met students bring their message of peace and non-violence to the Providence community in a march to the State House.

• Small school and small advisories
• Strong culture of communication among staff and students within the building
• Learning Through Internships (LTIs) in the community
• Weekly staff meetings for all staff within the same building
• Weekly written reflection by and for staff members within the same building (TGIF)
• The community as a resource to the school
• The school as a resource to the community
• Service learning projects in the community
• Facilities which underscore the Big Picture philosophy