August 21, 2008
TECHNOS QUARTERLY Spring 2002 Vol. 11 No. 1
The Met High School,
Providence, Rhode Island
The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (http://www.met.state.k12.ri.us/), founded by Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor, opened in 1996 in Providence, Rhode Island. The initial site for 100 students was housed in traditional classroom spaces at the downtown Sawyer Building. In 1999, the Met opened a second small school of 100 kids on Peace Street. This remarkable facility includes classroom/workrooms, project rooms, advisory rooms, and a large common room. Four additional small schools, each using a similar facility design as Peace Street, will open in Fall 2002, on a common campus. Each 100-student site “small school” at the Met has eight teachers in four learning groups and eight advisory groups. The small size is aimed at personalizing student learning.
A key slogan at the Met is, “One Kid at a Time.” The teacher/advisor works with 12 kids for four years and focuses on each kid as an individual. At the Met the curriculum is Learning Through Internships (LTIs) that are based on the students' interests. Students work with mentors in the "real world" and come to school to reflect on what they are learning on the job. Kids work with their parents, teacher/advisor, and workplace mentor to develop their own personal learning plan. No school has gone as far and as radical as the Met in developing this structure. Classroom/workrooms have state-of-the-art computers, peripherals, and presentation technologies for students to do their work and exhibit it.
A Met High School student team works together in one of the school's advisory
rooms.
PHOTO CREDIT: Cal Wolk, courtesy of The Big Picture Company, Inc.