BPL IMPACT
THE CHALLENGE
Every young person deserves an education built around who they are
Across the country and around the world, too many young people move through school without ever being truly known - their interests, identities, and aspirations invisible to the institutions meant to serve them.
Big Picture Learning exists to change that one student, one leader, one community at a time.
BPL wasn't made for a box. It was made for a child's mind. It was made for wonder. It was made for whimsy. It was made for creativity.
Briadelky, BPL student
Big Picture Learning has an impact on young people, but the way that you exponentially do that is by having an impact on the adults who serve young people.
Shameka Gerald, BPL Leader Fellow
THE BELIEF
Change one leader. Change everything.
BPL's multiplier effect: when a leader is transformed, their entire school community feels it - and the young people at the center experience something fundamentally different.
Unit of scale = leadership
Unit of change = community
Unit of impact = every young person's experience
supports
BPL
who transform
Leaders
thrive
Young People
who transform
Schools & Communities
30 YEARS IN THE MAKING
What began in one school has grown into a global movement
In 1995, Big Picture Learning opened The Met - a school in Providence, Rhode Island built on one radical premise: start with the student. Today that idea lives in hundreds of schools on six continents.
We'll follow the example of places that give students individual attention, while also preparing them through real-world, hands-on training.
President Barack Obama - referencing The Met School
Elliot Washor - BPL Co-Founder
Big Picture Learning has a long history. But I hope that people will stand on our shoulders.
THE REACH
BPL's IMPACT TO DATE
Behind every number is a leader trained, a school transformed, a student whose potential was finally taken seriously.
5,120
Leaders
trained and supported by BPL
1.3M+
Students
reached through BPL-trained leaders
145+
Schools
in the BPL network across the United States
12
Countries
with BPL-affiliated schools
Learning is happening everywhere, all the time. The role of the school is to value that learning.
Andrew Frishman - BPL Co-Chief Executive Officer
The spirit of Big Picture Learning is still the same. We've evolved from just being a school network to an organization that's committed to ensuring that all young people can live lives of their own design, but doing that in a variety of ways.
Carlos Moreno - BPL Co-Chief Executive Officer
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE
Big Picture Learning transforms learning environments and communities to ones that are youth-centered
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Largely by supporting and sustaining a community of transformational leaders,
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And by developing and scaling innovations that maintain human connection as their driving force, all while
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Influencing and leading the public conversation about education and learning.
These three commitments - leaders, innovation, and narrative - drive four interconnected strategic levers
HOW WE CREATE CHANGE
Four interconnected levers.
BPL's work happens wherever young people and the adults who serve them are learning and leading together.
LEAD WITH LEADERSHIP
Developing courageous, compassionate leaders equipped to truly know the young people they serve.
TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES
Creating conditions for passion-driven learning guided by invested adults - in schools, businesses, and community organizations alike.
INNOVATE & SCALE TOOLS
Technology that serves human connection. ImBlaze: 783,000 work-based learning days - 2,145 years of realworld experience.
SHAPE CONVERSATIONS
Thirty years of evidence give BPL standing to shift the national narrative around the future of education.
THE EVIDENCE
What the research shows
A 14-year Boston College longitudinal study (Dr. Karen Arnold, 2006-2020, Teacher's College Record) followed BPL graduates into adulthood. Results are consistent across race, income level, and first-generation college-goer status.
A note on equity
These outcomes hold across race, income level, and first-generation college-goer status - demonstrating that personalized, relationship-centered education can close, not reproduce, opportunity gaps.
95%
Graduated high school
83%
Engaged in civic participation
78%
Enrolled in post-secondary education
74%
Employed in careers aligned to their interests
97%
Report meaningful relationships with adults at school
96%
Would recommend their BPL school to others
VOICES
What people who've been there say
Maddie Gillissie,
BPL alum
Dennis Littky,
BPL Co-Founder
Jeff Palladino,
BPL School Leader
I live and breathe what Big Picture Learning is about.
Greg Lucas, BPL Leader Fellow
Big Picture Learning models what it looks like to truly stand in practice.
Gislaine Nounou, BPL Board Chair
Big Picture Learning is a family. It's a space where young people's voices are a priority.
Meisha Porter, BPL Leader Fellow
What BPL does is remind us to go find the people, let them tell their story, and elevate their voices.
Tiffany Holman-Besse, BPL Leader Fellow
Work-based learning is exactly what Big Picture Learning is all about.
Sonn Sam, National Partnerships Director
There’s opportunities everywhere. We just need to be creative.
Susan Hart, BPL School Leader
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Where we're going - and what it will take
BPL's next phase is about scale without dilution: reaching more leaders, more schools, and more young people while deepening the quality of transformation we're known for.
PROGRESS TOWARD 2030 GOALS
2030 GOAL: 450
400
135,000
7,500
2,000,000
Big Picture Learning is an incredibly good place to embrace disruption. We are creative, we are strong, we are innovative, and now that the future is opening up we'll be building something special.
Jennifer Ghidiu
National School Network Director
THE IMPАСТ CAMPAIGN
Invest in the future of education
BPL is in the midst of a $50 million Impact Campaign to accelerate our work. With lead gifts already committed - including a $3 million anchor grant from New Profit - we are building the campaign cabinet and community of supporters to fuel the next phase of growth.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Three ways to be part of what comes next
Every act of support - financial, professional, or personal - helps more young people experience what a great education can be.
BPL IMPACT CAMPAIGN
CABINET
We are incredibly grateful to be able to call upon the advice of a number of experts in the field - all of whom consider themselves friends of Big Picture Learning - to steward this campaign in a way that is strategically thoughtful and has deep meaning to the communities we serve.
MARC ECKO
COMPLEX NTWRK
KENT MCGUIRE
PHILANTHROPIC COLLABORATIVE FOR EDUCATION
MOLLY O'DONNELL
NEW PROFIT
TIFFANY TAYLOR
ASU + GSV SUMMIT
VIRGEL HAMMONDS
FULLSCALE
CHARMAINE MERCER
WIT AND WISDOM COLLABORATIVE
DEBORAH QUAZZO
GSV VENTURES
BLAIR UNDERWOOD
ACTOR
KAYA HENDERSON
ASPEN INSTITUTE CENTER FOR RISING GENERATIONS
GISLAINE NGOUNOU
WILLIAM CASPAR GRAUSTEIN MEMORIAL FUND
DAN PINK
AUTHOR
JEFF LIVINGSTON
FOUNDING PARTNER, EDSOLUTIONS
SAUL KAPLAN
BUSINESS INNOVATION FACTORY
PEDRO NOGUERA
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
KIM SMITH
LEARNERSTUDIO
