BELL Accelerates Learning and Empowers Students to Succeed BOSTON - Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) seeks to teach youth that "smart is not something you are, smart is something you get." Scholars assemble for a group picture prior to boarding the bus for a Friday field trip. Since 1992, BELL has educated more than 8,000 children to help them succeed in school and life. After four years of school-year programming, BELL expanded to offer a summer educational and enrichment component in 1996. The Accelerated Summer Learning Program (BELL Summer) seeks to increase children's basic skills in reading, writing, and math. BELL Summer also works to achieve the intangible goals of raising children's expectations and self-esteem, empowering parents, and developing mentoring relationships. BELL has an amazing track record of sustaining mentor relationships and encouraging students to further their education. Out of the first class of BELL scholars, 100 percent are enrolled in college. BELL scholars are typically six months to two years below grade level. The average house household income for a BELL family of three is $16,047 annually, and 87 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Over 95 percent of students are African-American, and BELL enrolls slightly more boys than girls. BELL operates with a staff to student ratio of one to eight with a maximum class size of twenty. The cost per pupil is $1,000. Last summer, BELL scholars improved by an average of six months in grade-equivalent skills in reading and math. At the beginning of the program, scholars ranked nationally at the 43rd percentile in reading and the 31st percentile in math. Six weeks later, scholars performed at the 50th and 42nd percentiles respectively. But the gains were not only academic. Eighty-three percent of parents reported noticeable improvement in their child's self-esteem, motivation to learn, and ability to work well with others. BELL serves nearly 5,000 underperforming elementary school children in Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland. Students from kindergarten to sixth grade are recommended by their teachers and previous participants are invited back. Students are called "scholars" once enrolled, which speaks to the program culture. Parents are required to attend a mandatory orientation and are encouraged to remain active in the program. The program operates either five or six weeks, depending on the site, for eight hours a day, five days a week. Children are instructed by certified teachers who are joined in the classroom by a teacher's assistant. Both teachers and teacher's assistants primarily come from BELL's school-year tutors. BELL places a high priority on the staff reflecting the ethnic make-up of the student population. Students receive instruction in reading and math as well as art, music, dance, and drama. Opportunities for scholars to learn about their cultural heritage are incorporated into the curriculum. In addition to providing for scholars' academic development, BELL also cares for their health by serving two balanced meals each day: breakfast and lunch. A number of partnerships assist BELL in reaching their goals. The faculty at Cambridge College support the design of a 32-hour staff training program. The literacy curriculum was designed by Voices of Love and Freedom and the consulting firm, Monitor, plays an advisory role regarding program quality. This summer, BELL continues in the second year of collaboration with the Urban Institute, which is conducting an external study of the impact of BELL Summer using random assignment of students. Once completed, this study will report the extent to which the summer programs help children in low-income communities overcome summer learning loss by comparing children who participate in BELL Summer with those who do not. Not only will the study provide BELL with its first third-party longitudinal evaluation of impact, but it could influence policy regarding out-of-school time.