The study, conducted by the Urban Institute, used random assignment — the gold standard of evaluation methods — to compare children in the BELL Summer program to children in another summer program. Data was collected from students’ Gates-MacGinitie reading test scores and revealed higher reading comprehension and overall reading scores for the BELL participants.
A six-week summer program that operates for eight hours per day in July and August, the Bell Summer program is designed to increase the academic achievements, self-esteem, and life opportunities of children living in low-income, urban areas. Students in the program receive two hours of literacy instruction and one hour of math instruction each day using Summer Success®: Reading and Summer Success®: Math.
