Below, we describe the core elements of these sustained, nested relationships. We link them to student work and other artifacts that illustrate how these elements support and challenge students.

ADVISORS Teachers at The Met are known as advisors, and they facilitate the learning of the 14 students (all in the same grade) in their advisory group. They help students create learning plans, identify interests, find internships, develop projects, and manage their time. They also work closely with their advisees’ mentors, meeting monthly at the job site and providing back at school whatever instruction or support students need to complete their internships. Since advisors stay with the same students until they graduate, teaching applicants must make a four-year commitment to the school. The resulting advisor-student bond runs deep. Click here for an example of advisor-to-student reflections.

MENTORS Mentors are the adults who guide and coach students in their community internships (“Learning Through Internships” or LTIs). As part of the student’s learning team, along with the advisor and parent/guardian, the mentor helps students develop LTI projects that have real consequence and value—to the student, mentor, and workplace. The mentor also gives regular feedback to the advisor, participates in the student’s exhibition of project work, and evaluates the student’s job performance and learning. Mentors stand as living examples of career possibilities and as role models of contributing community members. Click here for excerpts from senior Victoria Stillwell’s book Mentors.

ADVISORIES For Met students, advisories—advisors and their 14 students—are home base, the close-knit unit where students and faculty gather for an hour each morning to launch their day and where they return every afternoon for a half-hour before the day ends. Each advisory follows its own script, weaving together time for students to fill out daily planners or write in their journals; to discuss a common reading or debate current events; to plan a trip or special event; and to share high and low points with the group, or give or receive feedback on work in progress. Advisories give Met students a place to practice new skills and develop their identities with a safety net. Click here for a glimpse at one day in the life of an advisory group.

PARENTS Viewing parents as essential “learning partners,” The Met asks much of parents, recognizing they have much to give. All parents sign a contract with the school, agreeing to attend quarterly learning plan meetings and exhibitions, activities for which The Met offers training nights for parents. A buddy program matches new parents with veterans. Parents, teachers, students, and siblings frequently gather on campus for shared dinners and videos. The Met, as it likes to say, enrolls families, not just students. For students, this conviction poses a formidable adolescent challenge: accepting parents and guardians as valued partners in their learning. Click here for a diagram of parent-student relationships at The Met.

THE SCHOOL AS FAMILY The Met’s small size, intimate advisory system, and insistence on parent participation go far towards making the school feel like a family. Several features extend these connections. Through performances and presentations, students engage one another at a daily morning gathering appropriately called Pick-Me-Up. Eleventh and twelfth graders mentor freshmen and sophomores. Students attend exhibitions by classmates, where they join the audience in providing both positive and critical feedback. Students of all ages crowd graduation, and each spring Met graduates return to school as guests of honor, exchanging stories with current students, advisors, and mentors who continue to wish them well. Click here for examples of student projects that “give back” to the school community.

Real World Learning

Reflection and Accountability

Voice and Agency

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