The Met / Big Picture Learning: Parent Guide to Internship and Community-Based Schools

The Met, formally the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, is a network of six small public high schools on three campuses in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, serving grades 9 through 12 ¹. Big Picture Learning, established in 1995 by Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor, is the nonprofit organization that grew from The Met and now supports a national and international network of affiliate schools ⁷²¹. The model centers on internships in community workplaces, individualized learning plans, and a four-year advisory structure in which each student stays with the same teacher-adviser and roughly 16 peers for all of high school ²¹¹.

The Met is tuition-free, open to all Rhode Island high school students, and admits by lottery with no entrance exam ³⁴. Its enrollment of approximately 820 students is predominantly students of color and from low-income families ³. Big Picture Learning operates as a nonprofit supporting the broader network, while The Met itself functions as a state-operated public school in Rhode Island ¹⁵¹⁶.

Snapshot facts

Field	Detail
Official name	Big Picture Learning (network); The Met, formally Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (flagship) 115
Operating status	Active; six small schools on three campuses 1
Founded	1995 (network); The Met opened 1996 17
Founders	Dennis Littky (now Advisor) and Elliot Washor (Co-Founder and Director of New Forms) 21
Current leadership	Carlos Moreno and Andrew Frishman, Co-Executive Directors of Big Picture Learning; Mary-Ellen Rossi, Superintendent/Director of The Met 282922
Primary location or reach	Providence and Newport, RI (flagship); network in 27+ states and internationally 67
Grades served	9-12 1
Public/charter/private status	Public, state-operated school in Rhode Island 1516
Tuition or funding model	Tuition-free at all three flagship campuses 27
Admissions model	Lottery, open to all Rhode Island students 34
Educational model	Internship- and community-based learning with advisory structure 211
Evidence confidence	Mixed: school-reported figures, longitudinal study, and state data 1810

What it is

The Met is the founding school of Big Picture Learning, established in 1995 to spread a personalized, internship-based approach to high school education ⁷²¹. The Met itself comprises six small schools, each with fewer than 150 students, housed across three campuses ¹³. Total enrollment is approximately 820 students ³. Big Picture Learning has since grown into a national and international network; its Schools page describes "140+ schools across the United States and another 100+ around the world," while its Who We Are page states "over 143 schools in 27 states" plus hundreds more internationally ⁶⁷. A 2024 network report notes growth from 111 to 143 school partners in a single year ¹⁷. The network count is disputed across sources because Big Picture Learning's communications mix schools, fellowships, and other learning places in headline figures ⁶⁷. College Unbound, a degree-granting postsecondary institution for working adults, was incubated and launched from Big Picture Learning and is listed as a sibling brand ³⁰.

Educational model

The Big Picture Learning model rests on three core structures: advisory, Learning Through Internships (LTIs), and individualized learning plans ¹¹²⁵. Each student belongs to an advisory of approximately 16 peers led by a single teacher-adviser who stays with the group for all four years of high school ²¹¹. The advisory functions as the student's home base, meeting multiple times per week for group activities, one-on-one planning, and community building ²⁴.

Learning Through Internships places students in real-world workplaces up to two days per week, typically in three-month rotations with students completing two or three internships per year ²³. The Met maintains a database of more than 6,000 internship sites, spanning fields from healthcare and law to skilled trades, the arts, and technology ³⁹. Students research potential sites, schedule interviews, and build resumes themselves, developing what staff describe as soft skills alongside academic content ². Every student has an individualized learning plan developed with their adviser, parent, and internship mentor, updated each marking period and built around the student's interests rather than a fixed curriculum sequence ¹¹²³.

Student experience

Students at The Met spend significant time outside the school building. Two days per week are devoted to internships, while the remaining days include advisory time, project work, and workshops ²³. Math is the only subject routinely taught in a traditional classroom format; other learning emerges through internship projects, individualized assignments, and advisory activities ³. Class sizes are approximately 14 to 18 students ²³. The school emphasizes relationships with adults: advisers conduct home visits and one-on-one meetings to know each student and family well, and internship mentors provide additional adult connections ²¹¹. Some students are employed by their mentors after school or during summer ².

Curriculum, assessment, and progression

The Met does not use traditional letter or number grades. Students receive narrative assessments from their advisers and present public exhibitions of their learning each marking period before a panel of adviser, peers, family, and sometimes mentor ¹¹¹². Exhibitions track growth against the student's individualized learning plan and the Big Picture Learning Goals ¹¹. Students also compile yearly presentation portfolios and receive transcripts that translate their work into a format colleges can understand ¹¹. To graduate, students must meet Rhode Island state graduation requirements and demonstrate post-secondary readiness through public exhibitions, community service, taking the SAT or ACT, and creating a comprehensive Post-Met Plan ⁹. Gateways for progress occur between 8th and 9th grade, 10th and 11th grade, and at graduation ¹¹.

Public, charter, private, nonprofit, program, network, or platform status

The Met is a public, state-operated school in Rhode Island ¹⁵¹⁶. The NCES classifies the district as a "state-operated agency," and the RIDE Data Center lists its schools as "State Operated School" and "Public LEA School" ¹⁵¹⁶. It appears on the EnrollRI common application alongside charter public schools, with an asterisk noting it as an "Other Public School" ⁵. Big Picture Learning, the parent nonprofit, operates as a 501(c)(3) supporting the broader network of affiliate schools ¹⁴. The network operates through a fee-for-service model in collaboration with public schools and districts, rather than relying solely on philanthropic support ¹⁴.

Locations and availability

The Met operates three active campuses in Rhode Island, all serving grades 9-12 at no tuition cost ²⁷:

• Public Street Campus, 325 Public Street, Providence, RI 02905 ²⁷
• Peace Street Campus, 362 Dexter Street, Providence, RI 02908 ²⁷
• East Bay Campus, 115 Girard Avenue, Newport, RI 02840 ²⁷

The broader Big Picture Learning network extends across 27 or more states and internationally, including countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, Belize, Italy, India, and Canada ⁶⁷. The verified block notes virtual availability as "hybrid," though The Met itself is a physical public-school network rather than a fully online entity ²⁷.

Tuition, admissions, and eligibility

All three Met campuses are tuition-free ²⁷. Admission is by lottery, open to all Rhode Island high school students, with no entrance exam required ³⁴. For the 2026-2027 school year, the application opens November 18, 2025, the lottery application deadline is March 18, 2026, and the lottery runs on April 1, 2026 ⁴. The waiting list resets each year, so students cannot remain on it for more than one year ³. Applications are submitted through the EnrollRI Public School Common Application ⁴⁵.

Credits, transcripts, diplomas, certifications, and accreditation

• The Met issues transcripts that translate narrative assessments into a format colleges can understand ¹¹.
• Students graduate with a Rhode Island high school diploma upon meeting state requirements and completing the school's post-secondary readiness demonstrations ⁹.
• The verified block does not list any formal accreditations held, and no accreditation information was found in this run's searches.
• The Met is formally classified as a career and technical education (CTE) center by the state ¹¹⁴.
• Big Picture Learning has also developed the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC) as an alternative assessment metric used by some international affiliates ⁶.

Evidence and outcomes

School-reported figures from The Met's website include a 93 percent graduation rate, 77 percent of graduates attending college or postsecondary programs, and $2 million in scholarships received in 2020 ¹. The school also reports ranking first in all Rhode Island Student SurveyWorks categories in 2020 ¹. The Boston Globe reported a 96 percent graduation rate in 2023 ³. These are school-reported figures.

A longitudinal study of Big Picture Learning schools found that 97 percent of the class of 2007 were admitted to two-year or four-year colleges, 78 percent of BPL students were concurrently enrolled in college classes while in high school, and 74 percent of working alumni not enrolled in postsecondary education reported securing a job through a contact made during a high school internship ⁸¹⁰. The same study noted mixed results in science and mathematics college readiness and in six-year college persistence, with 24 percent of the class of 2007 having earned a bachelor's degree by 2013 ¹⁰. The study also identified a "summer melt" problem in which approximately one-third of college-intending graduates attended a different college than planned or did not enroll at all ¹⁰.

Big Picture Learning was named a 2024 Yass Prize finalist, receiving a $500,000 award with plans to expand to all 50 states by 2030 ¹³¹⁴. Philanthropic partners include New Profit, which announced a $3 million Transform investment in June 2026, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided a $1.75 million K-12 education grant ¹⁸¹⁹. Additional partners include Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Internationals Network for Public Schools ⁶²⁰³¹.

Best fit

The Met may be a strong fit for students who learn best through hands-on, real-world experience rather than traditional classroom instruction, and who benefit from close relationships with a small group of peers and a consistent adult adviser over four years. Families whose students have specific career interests, or who want their student to explore multiple fields through internships before committing to a postsecondary path, may find the model aligned with those goals. The narrative assessment system and absence of traditional grades may suit students who are disengaged by conventional grading but still capable of rigorous work. Families should consider whether their student is comfortable with significant independence and off-campus travel, as interns spend two days per week at community worksites ²³.

Questions parents should ask

• How does the lottery process work for transfer students entering after 9th grade, and is space typically available?
• What specific internship placements have been available in fields my student is interested in, and what happens if a placement is not a good fit?
• How do colleges and universities that my student may apply to interpret narrative transcripts from The Met?
• What math and science instruction is available beyond the designated math specialist, and how does the school address laboratory-based learning?
• How does the advisory structure handle conflicts or if a student and adviser are not a good match?

Sources

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