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| Ranking |
Evidence-Based Practice |
| Description |
Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) was established to provide low-income children with learning opportunities during the summer months, when many disadvantaged students fall behind in their academic progress. BELL targets not only educational achievement but also social and emotional development, by introducing students to positive role models and mentors, encouraging parental engagement, and building participants' self-esteem.
Today, the BELL Summer program provides educational experiences 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 5-6 weeks over the summer. Students participate in math and literacy classes, physical activities, community service projects, field trips, and guest speaker series. BELL has also expanded to offer the BELL After School program, which provides students with intensive individualized instruction in math and literacy. The After School program engages students for 2.5 hours a day, 3-5 days a week, for up to 30 weeks. |
| Goal / Mission |
BELL exists to transform the academic achievements, self-confidence, and life trajectories of children living in under-resourced, urban communities. |
| Results / Accomplishments |
A random assignment study of the effectiveness of BELL found that participating students gained about a month's worth of reading skills compared to their non-participating counterparts, a statistically significant achievement (p=0.04). The program is also associated with statistically significant increases in how often parents encouraged their children to read (p=0.04) and how often parents read books to their children (p=0.02). |
| Categories |
Education / Student Performance K-12
Education / School Resources
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| Source |
Child Trends |
| Date of Publication |
2006 |
| Date of Implementation |
1992 |
| Geographic Type |
Urban |
| Location |
City: Selected communities in the U.S. |
| Primary Contact |
Experience Bell
60 Clayton Street
Dorchester, MA 02122
(617) 282-1567
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| For more details |
http://www.experiencebell.org/
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411350_bell_im...
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| Target Audience |
Children |
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