0.8 Mirci, p., loomis, c., & Hensley, p. (september 2011). social  (Page 7/19)

Other schools were created based on The Met and have had similar success with these schools outperforming similar schools in graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and low dropout and discipline rates. The Met has been replicated. There are 67 Big Learning Schools in the United States, 23 in Australia, 1 in Canada, 27 in Israel, and 13 in the Netherlands (Big Picture Learning Brochure).

At these schools the emphasis has not been on a body of content to cover. The emphasis has been placed on the student (Littky&Allen, 1999). Students learn how to think like historians. This extends to thinking scientifically, mathematically, and artistically, etc. The philosophy reflects the Progressivism dating to Dewey that “students do best by confronting problems that arise while doing things they find interesting” (Levine, 2002, p. xix). Thus, learning begins as “a human encounter” (DeLissovoy, 2010, p. 3).

These schools differ from tradition comprehensive high schools: two-page evaluative narratives replaced the practice of five-tiered ranking; students groups are not based on chronological age or perceived ability; authentic assessments are used; and students participate in real life internships based on their interests (Levine, 2002; Littky&Grabelle, 2004). The differences at the Big Picture Learning Schools might threaten many who cannot conceive of alternatives to traditional schooling. “The prevailing mental model for schools and schooling seems to be almost hard-wired into our entire society” (Washer&Mojkowski, 2006, p. 736). The model of Big Picture Learning Schools was chosen to illustrate that many of the components of the enduring 19 ^th and 20 ^th Century ideology governing the structure and function of current traditional schools do not exist at these schools. Students are free from being labeled, sorted, ranked, and judged on the social constructs of perceived ability.

Because Dennis Littkey and Elliott Washer have created successful learner-centered schools, they understand the necessity of adults influencing students in positive ways:

Those of us involved in kid’s lives need to remember how fragile they are, especially teenagers. Even the toughest ones need us more than they would ever admit. As adults, we have the power to break their spirits with even the smallest word or gestures, and with some kids, we may never get a chance to help build them back up again. (Littky&Grabelle, 2004, p. 103)

Methodology

A phenomenological design best suited this research because the purpose was to understand a phenomenon or phenomena of an individual or group who experienced it (Patton, 2002). Participants who met the criteria of having participated in the original study (Loomis, 2011) constituted the purposeful sampling in this study. Confidentiality and anonymity were maintained by assigning pseudonyms to the ten participants: Jose, Maria, Jaime, Rosa, and Arturo were Latino/a; Tyrone was a Black male; and Susan, Kathy, Beth, and Peter were White. All participants were high school graduates. They were 19-years-old except for Maria, Beth, and Peter, who were 18-years-old.