BELL scholars excel.

The results from the 2011 BELL Summer program are in! 

Grade-Equivalent Gains:  BELL and its partners set a goal of enabling scholars to gain at least 3 months’ grade-equivalent skills in the BELL Summer program, according to standardized diagnostic tests.  This year, scholars achieved gains of 6.1 months’ reading and 6.7 months’ math skills.

Grade-equivalent gains are an important indicator of student success in the summer because they provide an absolute measure of growth about how much a student has progressed up the proficiency ladder at a time when most children are not engaged in structured learning activities.  For example, a student entering the 6th grade in the fall should score 6.0 on a diagnostic test at the beginning of the summer to be at grade level.  Sixth graders in BELL Summer began the summer nearly two years behind grade level, as they scored a 4.2 on pre-program diagnostic tests.  By the end of BELL Summer, these students had increased their performance and scored a 4.9, nearly on par with 5th grade reading skills.  That incremental improvement will make a difference this school year.

Percentile Rank Increases: BELL Summer increased scholars’ percentile ranks. Percentile ranks range from a low of 1 to a high of 99, with 50 representing the middle score and denoting average performance. They are useful indicators of scholar success because they provide a relative measure that compares BELL scholar performance to national norms. Scholars who are under-performing when they enroll in BELL programs, and who increase their percentile rank in BELL programs, narrow the achievement gap between them and their peers.  By increasing scholars’ performance from the 21st percentile to the 32nd in reading, and from the 17th percentile in math to the 26th, scholars experiencing the BELL Summer program significantly reduced their deviation from the norm (under-performance).

Parent & Teacher Survey Data

The charts below illustrate data from parent and teacher surveys.  At the end of the program, parents were asked if they felt the BELL Summer Program had improved their child’s academic skills.  Teachers were asked how much scholars improved in the main program areas since the beginning of the program.  Scholar self-efficacy and social and community skills were also assessed based on parent and teacher observations as indicated in their responses to end of program surveys.  Parents were also asked about their overall satisfaction with the program and their engagement in their child’s education.

About BELL’s Impact

We set a goal for scholars to gain at least three months’ grade-equivalent literacy and math skills in the BELL Summer program.  Without summer learning opportunities, students living in low-income neighborhoods tend to lose more than two months’ grade-equivalent reading and math skills.  As a result of their engagement in BELL Summer, scholars advance toward grade-level proficiency and narrow the achievement gap.

BELL’s impact results have been validated through an independent, random assignment study published by the Urban Institute, finding BELL Summer increases reading achievement in scholars and parental engagement in education.

In BELL After School, we set a goal to help scholars gain academic skills at an accelerated rate.  By acquiring new literacy and math skills faster than their peers, we are helping boost student performance and engagement so they can succeed in the classroom.  BELL’s impact extends to whole schools and communities.  We are increasingly finding evidence that BELL Summer and BELL After School help turn around low-performing schools. For example, BELL helped turn around 14 of its partner schools in New York City during the 2008-2009 school year, according to the Chancellor’s list of “Schools in Need of Improvement.”

Our impact extends to parents as well.  Independent evaluation results show that parents of BELL scholars read more frequently with their children at home.  Each year, more than 90% of parents report being more engaged in their child’s education because of BELL, and more than 90% are satisfied with BELL’s programs.