As a laboratory school, the Met hosts visitors from around the state and the country, using Big Picture's Design Studio format. The Design Studio begins even before the schools come together. A series of key topics are the basis of pre-visit planning discussions. Then, visiting teams spend two or three days on site at a hosting school, alternately immersed in the practices and spending reflective and planning time for their own school needs.
Teachers shadow teachers, students shadow students, and parents talk with parents.
The host school uses the visitors' perspective to question and refine their practices. Questions, answers and discussions among colleagues are both informative and affirming. Over the last two years, Big Picture has planned and executed Design Studios for visiting teams from Rhode Island schools and for schools and as far away as Seattle, WA, Oakland, CA, St. Louis, MO, San Diego, CA, and New York City. That is, the research is conducted simultaneously to the school activities, with adaptation and refinement taking place in real time. Program was founded in 1998 as a national training and certification program for school principals.