VOCEL is expanding our Building Early Learning Leaders program, a networked improvement community for school leaders and early childhood educators in Chicago Public Schools.

VOCEL has been awarded funding to expand our Building Early Learning Leaders program through the Education Equity COVID-19 Response Fund (EEF), a collaborative effort amongst education philanthropies to address education-related challenges stemming from the pandemic.

BELL is a networked improvement community designed for school leaders and their team of early educators to identify and improve strong early learning practices. The BELL pilot launched in January 2020, and was composed of fifteen school leaders from five Early Childhood Centers and Child-Parent Centers across Chicago Public Schools. With the support of EEF, VOCEL is expanding this offering to up to fifteen school teams, focusing on schools with pre-k programs enrolling students from communities most impacted by COVID-19.

As a networked improvement community, BELL is designed with structures in place to build community and support knowledge sharing. BELL participants receive ISBE professional development credit, tailored coaching support, exclusive access to online resources, a network of early childhood educators, and an implementation stipend. The upcoming BELL cohort will kick off on Tuesday, June 29th, 2021, with scheduled group learning and support through June 2022.

To learn more and apply, visit https://www.vocel.org/bell-application.

The BELL application is open now through Wednesday, June 9th, with confirmation of acceptance communicated by Friday, June 11th. 

About EEF 

The Education Equity COVID-19 Response Fund (EEF) is a collaborative effort amongst education philanthropies to address education-related challenges stemming from the pandemic. Philanthropic funders and advisory members of EEF include CME Group Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Steans Family Foundation, and more.