No bells ever sound at The Met. The nearly 300 students at this small high school on the south side of downtown apparently just know when to go to class.

Which is cool, and important to note, because it speaks to how life at The Met—part of a nationwide Big Picture Schools family that offers unique academic choices such as local-business internships and mentor programs—is quite unlike the typical high-school experience.

We believe that true learning takes place when each student is an active participant in his or her education, when his or her course of study is personalized by teachers, parents and mentors who know him or her well, and when school-based learning is blended with outside experiences that heighten the student’s interest. In a country obsessed by “test-score accountability," we promote “one student at a time accountability."