BELL is nationally recognized for its rigorous use of evaluation. Learn more about some of the educational organizations that recognize BELL as a national model for its evaluation credibility.
BELL's evaluation activities are guided, advised, and endorsed by an external, interdisciplinary group, BELL's national Evaluation Advisory Board. The general responsibility of the Evaluation Advisory Board is to oversee the application of principles and standards established in the evaluation and assessment fields. Read more about the Evaluation Advisory Board here.
Evaluation Purpose
BELL evaluates its programs to measure the academic and social gains of its scholars; improve its programs; and to disseminate best practices. Evaluation answers questions about program outcomes of interest to all stakeholders, including the scholars served, scholars' families, schools, BELL staff, donors, educational practitioners and policy-makers.
Did scholars demonstrate improved literacy and math skills?
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Did scholars demonstrate improvement during the school day?
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Did scholars report higher levels of self-esteem?
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Did scholars demonstrate improved social skills?
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Did parents engage in scholars' education?
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What did parents think of the program?
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Did parents engage in scholars' education?
Evaluation Tools
BELL uses the following tools to measure the academic and social gains of scholars:
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Standardized Tests -BELL administers nationally-recognized standardized tests to quantify gains in literacy and math.
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Skills-based Assessments - BELL implements quizzes regularly to monitor progress against the individual learning goals of every BELL scholar.
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Standardized Social Assessments - BELL uses several standardized tools to measure scholars' development of self-esteem and social skills.
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Report card and portfolio tracking - BELL collects report cards and maintains portfolios of scholar work to monitor improvements in core skills.
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Surveys - BELL distributes surveys to teachers, tutors, parents and principals to learn more about scholars' academic and social gains and identify areas of improvement.
Evaluation Advisory Board
BELL draws on the expertise of national leaders in the academic evaluation field:
BELL'S IMPACT STUDY
The BELL Summer program is scientifically proven to increase children's reading skills and levels of parental involvement. READ MORE
2008 ANNUAL REPORT
BELL's 2008 annual report is now available for download! FULL REPORT
June 21, 2010 The Wallace Foundation annouces a 3-year $4 million grant to BELL as part of its
initiative to provide students with more time for high-quality learning! Read more
June 20, 2010
New England Patriots players wrote their own plays for a day, coaching teams in the third annual BELL Bowl at Gillette Stadium to support summer learning. Read More
May 13 , 2010 The New York Life Foundation announces a four-year, $1,000,000 grant to support BELL's core literacy and math programming nationwide. Read the press release here
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