The Big Picture schools focus on a "one student at a time" model, which eschews subject based-internships, independent projects, and exhibitions of students' work. The company's goal is to help students acquire the motivation, skills, and personal qualities they will need for college and life. In 1996, Big Picture founder Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor secured a foothold for the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, a cluster of 120-student high schools in Providence, Rhode Island. Now, Littky and Washor have started emulating the "Met" schools' model with low dropout rates and high rates of college acceptance into The Big Picture schools. However, the principals at The Big Picture schools are facing challenges in trying to fit the nonprofit organization's exceptionally student-centered vision into an accountability environment. This article examines the challenges faced by The Big Picture Company in staying true to its alternative vision for high school while "scaling up" in new places.