New high school model counts on business input

September 06, 2004
By Dennis Littky
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Corporate America tells us we're not preparing young people for the business world today. It's no wonder, given that the education model we're using hasn't changed in 50 years. But there's a new model: Big Picture schools, public schools that rely on the help of local businesses to commit to every student's success.

Nine years ago, CVS Corp. founder Stanley Goldstein asked me to start a school in Providence, R.I., that prepares kids for the 21st century. As a high school principal, I knew that meant creating a school that engages teens in their education, involves them in their communities and gets their feet wet in the real world.

Big Picture public high schools, each no larger than 120 students, scrap many mainstays of traditional schools. At Chicago's Big Picture High School in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, now in its second year, there are no bells, tests or grades. Instead, students at the South Side school are measured in ways that matter. They create extensive portfolios of their work and undergo rigorous evaluations, with Ph.D.-like oral presentations to their mentors, peers and parents.

The hallmark of Big Picture schools is the internship program. Students spend two days a week outside school at in ternships with community business mentors who share their interests. Mentors don't have to give up their nights or weekends to participate. They welcome the chance to show and teach students their "life's calling," and they are some of the biggest fans of our internship program. Students meet their academic goals as set out in their individual learning plans by bringing their real-world project work into the classroom.

In Chicago, students have worked at local institutions including Stampgraphics, Spoken Word Café, Radio Arte and Holy Cross Hospital. Each intern has learned valuable computer, networking, organizational, writing and speaking skills.

Our internships are applied academics. They offer an unparalleled opportunity to learn how abstract knowledge connects to real-world practice. One student designed an ad for a communications firm that ran in a major daily paper, and got a summer job. An alum called to say his college professor made him a teaching assistant in computer science because he'd learned so much at his high school internship. After interning at a law firm, a hip-hop fan who wanted to drop out of school to become a musician now plans to attend college to pursue a career in entertainment law.

That's success. Don't all our kids deserve to be excited about learning, eager to continue their education, articulate and pursue their goals?

One in three U.S. students drops out of high school before graduation. Big Picture schools have a 96% graduation rate, a 100% college acceptance rate and an 85% college enrollment rate; 75% of our students are the first in their families to attend college..

As we open 23 schools nationwide this month, including another in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, we'll strive for even higher graduation and college enrollment rates. Our kids deserve nothing less.

Dennis Littky is co-founder of non-profit Big Picture Co. and director of the Met Center high school in Providence, R.I. With Samantha Grabelle, he is the author of "The Big Picture: Education is Everyone's Business."