Welcome!   
At Swiftwater Learning Center is a Big Picture Learning program. We believe that all students can learn, but that they learn differently.  We work with students to discover their own learning styles, build on their strengths and develop strategies for their areas of concern.  We encourage students to be self-directed learners, to achieve their goals and to explore potential career opportunities for post-high school.  We strive to meet the needs of each student and make their educational experience with us relevant and meaningful.

What is Big Picture Learning?

Big Picture Learning strives to promote and create a personalized education that is unique for each student. We believe the best learning takes place when each student is an active participant in his or her own education, when each student’s course of study is personalized by advisors, family, and mentors who know the student well, and when school-based learning is blended with outside experiences that heighten personal interests.

The Big Picture Learning design is a dynamic approach to learning and doing. All of the components of the design are based on three foundational principles: first, that learning must be based on the interests and goals of each student; second, that a student’s curriculum must be relevant to people and places that exist in the real world; and finally, that students skills must be authentically measured by the quality of their work.

One Student At A Time

The entire learning experience is personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs. Personalization expands beyond mere academic work and involves looking at each student holistically. Learning at a Big Picture school is not constrained by the school day or the school year. Students are encouraged to pursue their interests and grow academically, and given credit for activities outside of the school day and the school year. Every student’s work is documented on an Individual Learning Plan created and updated each marking period with the learning team (the student, parent/guardian, advisor, and whenever possible, mentor) in a Learning Plan meeting.

Learning Through Internships

The entire learning experience of a student is based on a student’s individual interests, talents, and needs. The learning experience includes curriculum, learning environment, use of time during the school day, and choice of work. Real world learning is best accomplished in the real world. Big Picture schools facilitate connections between students and community partners through interviews, shadows, outside of school trips, collaborative projects, and internships. Many Big Picture students engage in internships or mentorships--often twice a week for an entire school day--with experts in their field of interest, completing authentic projects and gaining experience and exposure to how their interests intersect with the real world.hops or college class, focus, and depth of investigation in the five Big Picture Learning Goals.

Assessed by Demonstration, Not Just Tests

Students are assessed not by tests, but by public displays of learning that track growth and progress in the student’s area of interest. Assessment criteria are individualized to the student and the real world standards of a project. Students present multiple exhibitions each year and discuss their learning growth with staff, parents/guardians, peers, and mentors.

There are high expectations for each student at Big Picture schools. The criteria of assessment are individualized to the student and the real world standards of a project (as gauged by the mentor). Students engaged in this process at Big Picture schools are not assessed by tests and are usually given narrative assessments along with, or in place of, grades. The assessments at a Big Picture school include public exhibitions (one per marking period) that track growth, progress, and quality work in the Learning Plan and academic depth in the Learning Goals, weekly check-in meetings with advisors, weekly journals, yearly presentation portfolios, and transcripts (to translate the information in a way colleges and post-secondary opportunities can understand).