Revolutionizing Educational Access

Lauren joined BellXcel in 2011 and was named Chief Executive Officer in 2017. Under Lauren's leadership, BellXcel has scaled its reach and impact by strengthening the capacity of school districts and peer nonprofits to support student achievement through delivery of high-quality, measurable, and sustainable extended-learning programs. At BellXcel, Lauren has overseen numerous initiatives related to quality improvement, program development, and outcomes measurement, including a Randomized Control Trial of its summer learning programs. Prior to BellXcel, she served as an assistant superintendent in Massachusetts and a special education teacher in her native New Mexico. Lauren has attended a highly-selective nonprofit leadership program at Harvard University, and was selected as a Results for America fellow. She holds a Doctorate in Education from Boston College and a Bachelor Degree in Special Education from the University of New Mexico.

BellXcel is driven by the belief that all children can excel, and that they learn best when engaged holistically and supported socially and emotionally. We recognize that schools cannot solve for educational and social inequalities alone. Children need opportunities outside of school that advance learning and spark joy, in programs designed to address opportunity and achievement gaps.

BellXcel is a learning organization with nearly three decades of experience developing summer and afterschool programs that accelerate learning and empower educators.  We now aim to revolutionize how communities access evidence-based programs with maximum impact. The cornerstone of our strategy and the focus of this project is a new Enterprise Solution to transform program creation, implementation, and evaluation. 

The Enterprise Solution will lower barriers to access by reducing program costs, allowing communities to serve more children. The Enterprise Solution also provides greater levels of customization to meet the unique needs of each community.

The need for educational transformation in the U.S. is real – and urgent. Right now, an estimated 7.5 million children from under-resourced communities are performing significantly below grade level. This persistent educational inequity is holding back a generation of children from reaching their full potential. This is a national crisis with devastating effects at all levels, from individual families to the global economy.

Children from higher-income families are less likely to experience learning loss during school breaks, a key contributor to the academic achievement gap, because their parents can invest, on average, 7x more in extracurricular learning such as camps, tutoring programs, and exposure to cultural and arts experiences. On the other hand, low-income households are often unable to access these kinds of experiences. Schools and community organizations try to close this investment gap through out-of-school time (OST) programs, but many struggle to replicate, implement, and scale programs, which limits broader access to proven solutions.

Together, these factors result in students with strikingly different educational trajectories. By fifth grade, low-income scholars without appropriate interventions fall, on average, two to three years behind peers; and by ninth grade, two-thirds of the reading achievement gap can be attributed to summer learning loss.

The Enterprise Solution is an intuitive online portal that will allow BellXcel partners to design, implement, and evaluate their programs — from scheduling and staff-scholar management, to family engagement and professional learning for educators. Combined with wrap-around technical assistance and assessment services from BellXcel, the Enterprise Solution will ensure our partners have the most relevant tools to deliver evidence-based OST programs.

The science behind the Enterprise Solution is anchored on eight key building blocks of program quality, as defined by education experts.  Paired with BellXcel’s internal research and decades of experience as an OST practitioner, the platform has been designed to optimize the user experience by reducing reliance on less efficient means of communication and organization.

Ultimately, the true benefit of launching the Enterprise Solution is the ability to scale, both for individual partners and for BellXcel as an organization.  Leveraging technology enables BellXcel to offer programs to partners at dramatically lower costs. The increased efficiencies generated through automated processes and seamless data analysis will allow partners to measure, improve, and expand programs at accelerated rates.  Additionally, the vast data collected will help shape field insights for a sector that is in dire need of ongoing continuous improvement and innovation.

In 2019, BellXcel reached approximately 20,000 scholars in grades PreK-8 across the U.S. Eighty percent of BellXcel scholars attend Title I schools or live in low-income communities, and nine of ten are Black or Hispanic/Latinx. Most significantly, the vast majority of children participating in a BellXcel-powered program are performing below grade level on traditional school-year benchmarks.

We expect that new partners and scholars served through the Enterprise Solution will have similar demographics. We also anticipate the Enterprise Solution will allow BellXcel to expand our reach into harder-to-serve areas, such as rural communities, where educational inequities may be exacerbated by limited technology and economic challenges.

Our evidence base demonstrates the power and potential of BellXcel programs to narrow the achievement gap, increase school engagement, develop stronger educators, and meet family and community needs. Scholars in BellXcel programs on average experience two months of academic gains during the summer months. By building growth mindsets and self-confidence, students enter the school year with improved attitudes toward learning. In post-program surveys, parents and caregivers consistently report they are more involved in their child’s education as a result of the BellXcel program. In addition, BellXcel provides valuable professional development opportunities for educators.

BellXcel’s focus is on strengthening youth organizations and schools, so every child can excel in every community.  The Enterprise Solution will be open to all, thus empowering the broader education ecosystem; however, we will focus financial and operational resources on engaging partners in under-resourced communities.

We believe that children in high- and low-income families are born with similar abilities, but different opportunities.  Our strategy to close the achievement gap is not to lower expectations but to bring proven practices to market, and to make those resources more accessible to those who share our belief in the potential of every child.

Technology is now embedded in nearly every facet of the in-school student experience, but the time scholars spend learning outside of the formal school day has been almost entirely overlooked. Many summer and afterschool providers are small nonprofits that lack the time, expertise or resources to invest significantly in technology.

Feedback from BellXcel partners, families, and scholars revealed very strong satisfaction with our program model, but an inability to reach true scale in their respective communities due to operational constraints. Frustrated by the lack of pre-existing solutions, we expanded our thinking and found inspiration in other segments of our daily lives.  Looking at the impact of TurboTax on income-tax preparation or The Knot on wedding planning, we saw stagnant industries transformed through the adoption of user-centered technology. A seamless user experience, and an intentional focus on developing a platform that a diverse range of users could adopt, were guiding principles in our design thinking.

BellXcel began designing, piloting, and refining its vision for an Enterprise Solution in 2018. This project’s North Star is our vision to empower well-intentioned local program providers with decades of research and best practices on what works in effective summer and afterschool programs. 

When the time comes, I will be a leader.  When there is injustice, I will take a stand…

These words – recited each day by BellXcel scholars across the nation as part of the Scholar Pledge – speak to BellXcel’s commitment to a brighter future for our nation’s youth. BellXcel was founded on a belief in equity: By creating holistic, evidence-based opportunities for scholars, we seek to transform not only their academic and social-emotional skills, but also create a more just and equitable world.

In 1992, a group of Black and Latino Harvard Law students created an after-school tutoring program to address the disproportionate number of local children falling behind in school.  Since then, BellXcel has grown to impact the lives of over 200,000 children. Lessons learned over the past quarter-century have fueled innovation and led us to this point of transformation. 

Research shows that when school is closed, inequality rises and opportunity and achievement gaps widen. Poverty and systemic inequities have been brought to light in all corners of our country, including rural, urban, and suburban communities.  A one-size fits all, top-down solution will never be the answer, and our moment to help address the achievement gap is now. 

Over the past 28 years, BellXcel has grown to be the largest provider of evidence-based summer learning in the U.S. and a national leader in afterschool programming. On two separate occasions, BellXcel has been selected as one of the best expanded-learning programs in the U.S. by the National Summer Learning Association. BellXcel also received the Social Capitalist Award from Fast Company Magazine and the Monitor Group three years in a row as an innovative and entrepreneurial nonprofit that is having a transformative impact on a pressing social challenge.

Additionally, BellXcel’s work has been validated by third-party evaluations, including Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) conducted by the Urban Institute and MDRC and comparison group studies conducted by The Riley Institute at Furman University and numerous school-district partners. Independently reviewed by RAND and Research for Action, our evidence-base for both BellXcel Summer and BellXcel Afterschool is aligned with federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) standards. This external validation provides our partners with opportunities to access federal, state and philanthropic funds to support their work.

Finally, BellXcel has built a rich culture of continuous improvement. Through ongoing educator, family, and partner feedback, BellXcel constantly strives to understand what works to ensure that our programs evolve to meet the needs of the communities we serve.  We know that scaling this work and supporting communities as they dismantle systemic barriers to equity, must be a collaborative effort.

Embarking on this project required BellXcel to undergo a cultural and functional shift from a program delivery provider reliant on public contracts to a market-driven educational technology enterprise. This change has had a ripple effect on all aspects of our work and necessitated a redesign of our operating and economic model. Our understanding of BellXcel’s “product,” its value proposition, and its supporting functions had to be re-imagined.

In service of our long-term goals, and with a steadfast belief that our work must be about growing impact and not the size of our organization, we could not shy away from bold action. We undertook a significant change-management exercise, including an organizational restructuring that resulted in the elimination of several siloed functions and the creation of interconnected teams to support our new strategy. We also added critical human capital in areas such as product design and user experience to support this new technology platform. 

This transition has not been easy, particularly for long-time staff who were more comfortable with our old identity. However, by being transparent with the new strategy and articulating the role each team member plays in the future of BellXcel, we weathered this transformation with minimal disruption.

Embracing innovation has been a theme throughout my journey as a lifelong educator and leader.  While serving as Assistant Superintendent of Natick Public Schools, there were clear signs in our data and from the business community that our students were not graduating the K-12 system equipped with the 21st Century Skills needed to excel.  To effectively transform their educational experience, it was incumbent upon us as educators to transform the way we educate.

In partnership with the Superintendent, I led a project to move the entire district to a 1:1 instruction approach, which has more generally come to be known as “personalized learning”.  Natick Public Schools become the first district in Massachusetts to have a personal device for every student and fully embed technology into a student’s educational experience.

Change of this magnitude is multi-faceted, especially within a district that did not yet have standardized computing access at the building-level.  Building consensus across key stakeholders and convincing the community leadership to allot the required funding were key hurdles that would not have been possible to overcome without strong third-party evidence, a willingness to embrace bold ideas, and clear focus on the outcomes we desired for our students.

Karl Alexander’s seminal research study on the Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap is now nearly fourteen years old, yet the quality and access to holistic summer learning programs still pales in comparison to the need.  Furthermore, several third-party research studies have validated effective models that can help close summer learning gaps; however, these practices are not universally deployed.  The Enterprise Solution is designed to disrupt the status quo and help bridge the divide between well-intentioned local providers and evidence-based practices.  This solution is unique in that it directly addresses partner pain points related to cost, efficiency, and data, while retaining the integrity of the underlying models.

Instead of focusing on how to redesign how students learn, we are redesigning how educators access proven approaches.  By simplifying the operational components and creating pathways for diverse local entities to participate, we will dramatically accelerate the number of partners delivering evidence-based summer and afterschool programs.

BellXcel is driven by the belief that children and youth learn best when engaged holistically and supported socially and emotionally. We ensure partners’ programs offer not only rigorous and scaffolded literacy and math curriculum taught by experienced educators, but also engaging opportunities for building social-emotional skills and sparking lifelong curiosity in science, math, and extracurricular activities. Program evaluations and field research demonstrate holistic approaches to learning and development help youth and families thrive. Committed to helping our partners deeply engage families and develop educators, BellXcel’s training and resources focus on building supportive learning environments and with student-centered practices.

To help our partners drive continuous improvement, we test and measure three hypotheses in a typical program cycle through the following comprehensive approach to evaluation:

• If youth are supported socially and emotionally, engaged in rigorous academic instruction, and exposed to enrichment opportunities, does engagement in learning serve as an effective intervention to advance learning and narrow the achievement gap?
• If families are included as critical partners in learning, does family engagement in learning increase during the program?
• If teachers receive strong professional development followed by opportunities to practice and reflect on skills and strategies, do they expand and hone practices for school day teaching?

Through surveys, academic assessments, quality self-assessments, and focus groups, we evaluate engagement, teaching strategies, academic skill growth, and changes in relationships and routines.

In 2019, BellXcel reached approximately 20,000 scholars in grades PreK-8 across the U.S.  Due to the pandemic we anticipate near-term shifts in our service reach and have not yet reforecast our projections.  Originally, we anticipated transitioning our existing partners on to the Enterprise Solution in 2020 and adding several new partners, achieving a growth rate of 30% and reaching 26,000 scholars. Over the course of five years, we projected more than doubling our reach and serving nearly 50,000 scholars.  By 2028, we were on a path to serve 150,000 + scholars annually and achieve operational breakeven.

In addition to the scholars, our third-party research has validated that our model has a measurable impact on the family members and educators that participate.  The Enterprise Solution will allow us to expand offerings to these two key audiences further strengthening the positive impact we have on them and creating a ripple effect that will indirectly impact hundreds of thousands of scholars.

In 2018, BellXcel’s Board of Directors approved a 10-year strategic plan that fundamentally changed the trajectory of our organization.  The plan is anchored our three main priorities:

• Scale:  Transform more lives by developing bold, innovative solutions that meet partner needs.
• Impact: Build evidence base on sustainable strategies to drive high-quality program experiences and outcomes.
• Influence: Bring the power of practitioner work and deep research together to build field capacity.

Phase 2 of that plan, which we are on track to complete between 2020-2024, has four main goals:

1. Deliver enterprise solution to 125K+ scholars across diverse partner portfolio
2. Expand research and evidence-base to inform youth and educator experience
3. Build consulting portfolio of youth organizations and enhance influence in the field
4. Achieve 200% increase in earned revenue and 33% decrease in philanthropy required

Prior to Covid-19 and the unpredictable implications it will have on the education ecosystem at large, we had identified two mains barriers to scale:

1. Awareness ­­­– the OST field is comprised of thousands of diverse partners, including school districts, community-based organizations, churches, libraries, etc.  BellXcel has made strides in increasing awareness of its proven models the past three years, but still has low brand recognition.  Many partners are not aware of available resources and others are overwhelmed with the current responsibilities, liming their ability to proactively seek out new solutions.
2. Funding ­– federal, state, and local education funding is highly constrained and 21st Century funds, which are a key funding source to fund afterschool and summer programs are at heightened risk.  Elimination or disruptions of key funding streams would severely impact the number of eligible users of the Enterprise Solution.

To overcome our first barrier around market awareness, BellXcel has invested in expanding its sales and marketing team, including bringing in outside experts that have direct experience working in the education technology field.  The Foundation of that work is a go-to-market plan that was designed by West Monroe, a management consulting firm that has deep experience in supporting new ventures thoughtfully introduce products.  BellXcel in the next five years, also has plans to invest considerable resources in outbound marketing to bring greater awareness to the critical unmet need and available solutions.

To overcome our second barrier related to funding, we continue to invest in and partner with strong advocacy partners like the National Summer Learning Association.  Contributing our voice and evidence to a larger national effort helps to ensure that critical funding streams are sustained and ideally expanded.  Leveraging our experience as an implementer, we also coach partners on how to unlock new state and local funding, including at times completing joint proposals to support program expansion.

Motivated by the belief that local, place-based approaches are most effective to deliver evidence-based education solutions, BellXcel partnered with more than 80 schools, school districts, and community-based organizations in 2020.   This approach has proven to be extremely sustainable with more than 80% of our partners returning annually and several achieving significant expansion.

BellXcel also partners with leading educational entities like Scholastic, Renaissance Learning, and the Sperling Center for Research and Innovation to co-design and deliver components of our model.  For the Enterprise Solution specifically, BellXcel has partnered with national and international design partners to ensure the tool is simple and user-friendly.  With a clear focus on expanding impact, not the size of our organization, we have sought out programmatic, operational, and research partnerships to extend our reach.

As a nonprofit, the BellXcel business model is driven by a combination of revenue earned from our summer and afterschool partnerships and philanthropic funding.  Over the course of the next five years, BellXcel anticipates an average budget of roughly $15.5 million and a 200% increase in earned revenue as the Enterprise Solution is scaled.  Partners contract with BellXcel on a per child basis for all the tools and resources required to deliver their programs.  Over time as partners gain more experience, BellXcel scales back its involvement and the corresponding expenditures to support partners in sustaining and expanding their local reach.  In 2020, earned revenue is projected to comprise nearly 20% of our total budget, increasing annually with a projection to reach operational breakeven by 2028.

Financial sustainability is explicitly stated is one of the goals for our strategic plan.  The revenue earned by achieving a 10x increase in the number of partner served and reaching 150,000+ scholars annually will put BellXcel on track to reach financial sustainability in 2028.   The upfront investment to build out and design the Enterprise Solution will be complete by 2024 and funded through one-time unrestricted philanthropic investments.

Through 2020, BellXcel has raised $20 million in philanthropic investments towards its five-year Phase 2 goal of $30 million.  Additional details on individual Supporters and investments can be provided upon request.

Scaling the Enterprise Solution is our primary strategic initiative for Phase 2. With the design of the project on track, new investments would be used towards building new partnerships and overcoming the barriers shared earlier.

In 2020, our total organization expenses are projected to total $16,500,000.  We have not yet reforecast to account for the impact of Covid-19.

Being selecting for the Prize would be tremendous in our pursuit of increasing awareness. It would accelerate our ability to bring greater attention to this critical area of need and the available solutions.  Additionally, I have learned a tremendous amount from peers in past fellowship opportunities and believe the exchange of ideas amongst Global Heroes will not only help catalyzing new innovations, but unearth new collaborations.

When it comes to summer and afterschool programs, a one-size fits all, top-down approach simply does not work.  Every community faces unique challenges and opportunities.  Learning from our early experience as a program delivery provider ourselves and the importance of local ownership, BellXcel has been actively investing in diverse partnerships for the past decade.  As we embark on this project, there are two key types of partnerships we would like to pursue.  First, we are seeking to engage partners that have been traditionally left out of the out-of-school time conversation despite serving thousands of young people.  Parks and Recreation Offices, Libraries, Public Housing Authorities and Faith-Based Institutions such as churches.  With an expanded ability through the Enterprise Solution to customize dynamic learning programs, it allows us to meet these partners where they are on their quest to deliver high quality learning without duplicating existing local efforts.

The second group of partners would be related to research.  At BellXcel, we firmly believe the education system currently designed is not working for all children and must be redesigned.  We must build a pipeline of opportunities, not isolated interventions and must lead with data-driven decision-making.  By partnering with research entities such as RAND to help lift up what is effective, allows public agencies to direct greater resources to proven programs and helps to build the return on investment for this important work.