The Met

Providence, RI

Real-world learning with out-of-this-world support

When given the opportunity to create a new public school from scratch, the founders of The Met High School began by asking, “What’s best for kids?” That inquiry led to a design that has effectively served its diverse Rhode Island student population for over 25 years and has been the design for 100+ schools around the United States and another 100 around the world within the Big Picture Learning Network.

BACK TO NETWORK

See for yourself

What it looks and feels like

To be a Met student is to direct your own education while being an active member of the community. Throughout four years in high school, each student has multiple internships that enable career exploration, authentic learning, and avenues for contribution and building of social networks. While their knowledge of the world expands, young people are nurtured in the Met’s tight-knit environment. Advisory groups made up of peers and an adult advisor become a second family over their four-year tenure, supporting one another through challenges of all kinds, celebrating victories big and small, and cultivating relationships that last a lifetime. Upon graduation, students take more than a diploma with them—they have extensive work experience, evidence of their impact on the places they’ve interned, a portfolio of their skills and content mastery, a personal and professional network, a post-graduation plan, and the confidence to take their next steps.

Being an advisor here, I now feel like I have 16 kids. When someone asks me in life, ‘How are your kids doing?’ I’m like, ‘Which ones? My own or the students. So like, my 16 kids are my kids, and I think of them that way.’
VENCY BEATO, THE MET ADVISOR

THE IMPACT

77%

of Met graduates attend college or a postsecondary program, and 21% immediately enter the workforce

78%

of Met students say their school prepares them for college and career, compared to the Rhode Island average of 34%

6,000+

businesses and organizations have supported internship opportunities for Met students in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

MODEL HIGHLIGHTS

Relevant, community-based learning

All students spend two days per week at an internship matching a career path they want to explore. There, they develop rigorous projects that form the foundation of their learning plans and provide opportunities to address the Met’s learning goals.

Relational support structure

Each student belongs to an advisory group of 16 students and one adult advisor who support one another for the entirety of their four-year journey. The advisor’s primary responsibility is the holistic success of each of their advisees, and they draw on a deep knowledge of the students’ families, backgrounds, assets, and aspirations to guide their goal-setting and foster relevant connections.

Post-graduation readiness

To graduate from the Met, students must meet state graduation requirements AND demonstrate preparedness for post-secondary life through experiences including public exhibitions of their learning, community service, taking the SAT or ACT, and creating a comprehensive Post-Met Plan.