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Recommended Reading
One Kid at a Time
by Eliot Levine
Teachers College, Columbia, 2002
ISBN: 0807741531What an exciting story of a unique environment for learning developed by educators Dennis Littkey and Elliot Washor, creators of the Met School in Providence, Rhode Island! Author Levine notes that "The Met has no classes, no grades, no tests, and no easy rides. With guidance from adults, each student builds a customized education focused on five learning goals: communication, social reasoning, empirical reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and personal qualities."
Students spend two days a week at internships that they select according to their interests. They study fewer topics, but what they learn is in greater depth. Rather than demonstrating what they have learned through tests, they give public exhibitions. Rather than grades, their teachers write detailed comments about their work, and the students meet quarterly with their learning team that consists of teacher, parents, and their internship mentor. Fourteen students and a teacher form an advisory group that stays together for all four years of high school. No one in this school is anonymous!
The track record for this school since it opened in 1996 is commendable. Even through students come from all backgrounds, all the students complete high school and most go on to higher education. Littkey and Washor formed the Big Picture Company when they came to Providence. The first project was the formation of the Met School, and most recently, funded by a $3.4 million grant from the Gates Foundation, they will be developing 12 schools across the country based on the Met's learning principles.
This book describes in details the experiences of specific students at the school, explores the unique educational strategies they experience, assesses the effectiveness of the school, and describes the challenges involved in this pioneering work.
Author Eliot Levine earned a doctorate in psychology at the University of Maryland, and has worked as a psychologist and education researcher at Harvard University. He is currently preparing to become a high school teacher.
Copyright © March 2002 New Horizons for Learning
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