Bell Multicultural High School (BMHS) was founded by the Multicultural Career Intern Program, Inc. (MCIP) as a Washington, DC public school in 1979. Bell and MCIP serve the largely immigrant (65% Latino) neighborhood of Columbia Heights. Collaboratively, the two organizations provide the community with language learning, employment training, and immigration support. Numerous government entities, such as the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Labor, and the White House have cited Bell as “a school of excellence.” In 2002, the National Association of Secondary School Principals awarded Principal of the Year to Bell’s principal Maria Tukeva.
The community of BMHS is committed to multicultural, multilingual, and career education. Because of the diverse social, economic, educational, and linguistic backgrounds of the students, BMHS supporters and educators realize the importance of addressing students’ social and economic needs, as well as their individual learning styles. At Bell, first and second language development is viewed as the cornerstone of a curriculum that develops necessary skills in communication, interpersonal relationships, career development, health, problem solving, mathematics, science, and technology.
Bell Multicultural Early College Program (ECP) is a recent extension of BMHS, and it consists of two early college career academies. Currently there are 700 students enrolled at BMHS. It is expected that each of these students will be enrolled in one of the early college academies after three years of full implementation (2007-2008). To ensure that all students have access to the program and that all students have the institutional support necessary for success, BMHC is committed to the ongoing development and implementation of small, personalized learning communities.
BMHS will be divided into a Lower Division (upgraded, but primarily structured for incoming ninth-grade students) and an Upper Division (also upgraded, but primarily comprised of tenth- , 11th- , 12th-grade, and college freshman students). These divisions will be split further into cohort learning communities of 100 students in the Lower Division, and two career-focused academies of approximately 250 students, each in the Upper Division. The Upper Divisions will be:
1) The Multilingual Communications and the Arts Early College
2) The Math, Science, and Business Early College
Although the enrollment of 700 is slightly larger than what is considered a small school, there are structural and programmatic elements already in place which ensure that all students experience learning in a smaller learning community. First, as mentioned above, the school is divided into smaller sections that are further divided into learning cohorts. Each cohort has a team of teachers who stay with the students for three years. Cohort faculty members meet every two weeks in collaborative teams to discuss student progress, review student work, and plan integrated instruction. In addition, the Lower Division and each early college will have an administrator who is responsible for leading that community. There will be one counselor assigned to each learning community and each student will have an advisor. The advisors are teachers from the students’ cohorts, and they stay with their students for three years. Advisor and advisees meet during a weekly advisory period to address academic and personal development.
The rollout plan to reach full enrollment in ECP began in September 2004. The first pilot group of ECP students was selected and oriented during August of the 2004-2005 school year. These 12 students were enrolled in a class at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) for the first semester, and an additional group of 12 was enrolled in a class for the second semester. The total number of students served (24) was less than projected (60), due to the high cost of tuition, and the need to further develop the financing plan for college credits.
Currently, 50 students are enrolled in ECP classes between Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) and University of the District of Columbia (UDC); in the 2006-2007 school year, the entire rising ninth-grade class will be eligible for ECP classes and will have the opportunity to earn at least 30 college credits. Bell’s ultimate mission is that every student develops marketable skills that lead to success in the world of professionals and post-secondary education.
BMHS currently has agreements with NVCC and UDC and is working with other local universities to establish similar agreements. BMHS and NCLR continue to work together to explore, develop strategies, and advocate for creative options of financing.
