Ringing the BELL

CULTURE & SOCIETY

by THE OLBIOS TEAM

Building Educational Leaders for Life (BELL), seeks to  improve the lives of urban children in underserved neighborhoods through the promotion of education. BELL accomplishes this by partnering with local schools to deliver after-school and summer programs. Due to their unique and targeted programing, BELL has won numerous awards, including the “Excellence in Summer Learning Award,” and the “Be the Change Award.” BELL exists to transform the life trajectories of children living in under-resourced, urban communities. “Research shows that a lack of learning opportunities outside of school – and in particular, a lack of summer learning opportunities – causes up to 2/3 of the academic achievement gap between children from low-income communities and their higher-income peers.  We aim to change that by helping schools and communities find innovative ways to expand learning time beyond the traditional school day and school year.  By bringing the classroom into the community, and the community into the classroom, we aim to redefine how, where, and when learning occurs. Our two main program models, Bell Summer and Bell After School are based on strong partnerships with schools and deliver small-group academic instruction, mentorship, a wide range of enrichment activities, and community engagement.  In BELL programs, scholars experience success, gain self-confidence, and become more prepared to succeed in the classroom.  Our models also help parents become more engaged in their child’s education.  Scholar success and parent engagement leads to improved school attendance, higher grades and test scores, and increased graduation rates. Our programs serve scholars in grades K-8 throughout the United States. We are a national organization, born in Boston.  We have been perfecting our approach to expanding learning time since 1992.” BELL_website Web site: http://www.experiencebell.org/

 

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