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Mission & History: BELL exists to increase the academic achievements, self-esteem and life opportunities of children living in under resourced urban communities. The organization was founded in Boston in 1992 by Earl Martin Phalen, then a student at Harvard Law School. BELL has since expanded to provide educational after school and summer programs to children in Boston, New York City, Detroit, Baltimore and Charlotte, NC. Today, BELL is mobilizing a corps of nearly 1,000 certified teachers and highly trained tutors to educate more than 12,000 “scholars.”

Community Served: BELL provides its educational programs to children who are performing below grade-level and who live in low-income communities. When entering BELL programs, children are 1.2 years below grade level. During the summer, they tend to fall further behind, losing two months’ grade-equivalent skills. Such academic under-performance early in a child’s schooling dramatically increases their risk of failing and later dropping out of school. Some states even use third grade academic performance data to predict the number of prison beds they will need in the following decade. By providing educational opportunities after school and during the summer, BELL transforms children into scholars who are proficient in reading, writing and math, and puts them onto a path to college.

Programs: BELL operates two programs in a year-round effort to help children excel. BELL After School operates 3-5 days per week, three hours per day in school-based sites. BELL Summer operates five days per week, eight hours per week, for 5-6 weeks. BELL programs set high expectations for scholars and include elements that are proven to increase their time-on-task and accelerate learning, including academic tutoring in literacy and math; mentorship from young teachers and college students; experiential learning through cultural activities, field trips and community service; parental involvement; and ongoing training and professional development for staff.

Measuring Success: BELL rigorously monitors program quality and evaluates scholars’ academic and social gains by using standardized tests, skills-based quizzes, and a series of operating metrics. An innovative web-based assessment system provides BELL educators with individualized lesson plans and progress reports to share with parents, teachers and principals. BELL’s use of data to drive academic instruction and continually improve program quality has been nationally recognized as a model of best practices. In 2006, BELL worked with the Urban Institute and Mathematica Policy Research to complete a two-year study of the BELL Summer Program’s impact on children’s reading skills. In comparing the performance of BELL scholars against students not enrolled in BELL, researchers found “scientifically rigorous evidence regarding the ability of the BELL Summer program to improve the reading skills of low-performing elementary school children.”

Awards & Impact:
U.S. Senate: BELL Summer inspired new legislation created by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) called the STEP UP Act, which seeks to make public funds available to provide high-quality summer learning opportunities to children.

Social Capitalist Award: For the second year in a row, BELL won the Social Capitalist Award from Fast Company magazine and the Monitor Group, which recognizes high-performing nonprofits that combine innovation and entrepreneurship to
create sustainable solutions to social challenges.

Excellence in Summer Learning: For the second year in a row BELL Summer was named one of the nation’s three best summer learning programs by the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University.

American Federation of Teachers: In its American Educator magazine, the American Federation of Teachers recognized BELL Summer as the nation’s ideal summer learning program for children.