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Health & Fitness

New High School Choice Coming to Families of San Carlos: Big Picture Learning

Big Picture Learning is an innovative charter high school organization. Information Meeting is set for Thursday, November 10, 2011 from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Holbrook-Palmer Park Pavilion in Atherton.

I am very excited to be able to share some great news about a great new charter high school coming to Silicon Valley. Big Picture Learning is an established charter high school organization that will be submitting a charter in just a couple of months to the Sequoia Union High School District.  This high school option will soon be available to the families of San Carlos.  It is a charter high school that has a mission similar to San Carlos Charter Learning Center.  Their approach to learning is offering a project-based learning environment with opportunities for real world learning experiences that CLC also offers its learners. 

 Big Picture Learning is an organization that was founded in 1995 with the establishment of the first MET High School in Providence, Rhode Island.  I have followed their growth from the beginning and have always been a supporter of the two founders, Dennis Littky and Eliot Washor, since I first visited their MET campus in Providence back in 1998.  

 In the last fifteen years, Big Picture has grown and expanded across the country. For the last few years, they have been opening schools in both Los Angeles, and Oakland with some additional schools in Sacramento.  They also have over sixty Big Picture Schools in countries around the world.  Now, they are coming to Sequoia District.  

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Big Picture Learning believes that high school graduates must know how to reason, problem-solve, and be active members of the community. At Big Picture Learning schools, there is no canon of information that all students must know. In a world where available information is growing exponentially, we believe that the most important thing a student needs to know is how to learn. Integral to the Big Picture Learning design are the five Learning Goals, a framework for looking at concepts, skills, and abilities and help guide the creation of personalized student curriculum.

According to their informational brochures, Big Picture Learning schools are unique environments where students can flourish as individuals within a community of learners. There are many elements that are uncommon and distinct, and set Big Picture schools apart from most schools. These common characteristics are called "Distinguishers", as they distinguish the Big Picture Learning design from other learning designs or models.

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Big Picture Learning’s School Distinguishers, listed below, exist as a comprehensive whole. They are interrelated and inform one another – none work in isolation. It is the seamless integration of reflection-based action and the distinguishers that result in the powerful success of the Big Picture Learning design.

The Ten Distinguishers are:

 Holbrook-Palmer Park Pavilion 

150 Watkins Ave. 

Atherton, CA  94027

I hope that you will be able to join me at this exciting event and to learn more about a great new high school opportunity coming to the Sequoia District.

To register for the event, please go to:  http://sequoiabigpicture.eventbrite.com/

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