Part II:
Status of Research-Based Programs
Programs Beginning When Children are in Middle and/or High School
I. Learn and Service America
The following review was written by Benard and is reprinted here with her permission.
Service learning is an educational process that relates service experiences to the school or community directly to the curriculum's subject matter. A 3-year interim evaluation study of more than 1,000 students in Learn and Service America (LSA) found positive impacts not only on the students, but also on cooperating schools and community organizations as well as on the larger communities (Brandeis University and Abt Associates, 1996). LSA is a competitive grants program carried out under the National and Community Service Act of 1993.
Impact on Students
Service learning programs showed statistically significant, positive impacts on several measures of civic and educational development:
- Engagement in school
- Grades
- Core subject GPA
- Educational aspirations
- Personal responsibility
- Social responsibility
- Acceptance of cultural diversity
- Leadership
Impact on Community Organizations
During the 1995-96 school year, LSA students were involved in more than 300 district projects or activities in each semester, providing more than 154,000 hours of service over the year. Officials of community organizations consistently gave students high
praise for the "value added" they provided to their organizations' mission and work.
Impact on Communities
Community officials give service learning projects high ratings and would use LSA students again. On a 10-point scale (10=best possible), they rated participants as follows:
- 8.7 for their impact on clients
- 8.2 for their community impact
In addition, 96% said they would use the volunteers again; 75% said that the volunteers had helped raise the skill levels, engagement, and self-esteem of their clients; and over 66% said that the volunteers had fostered a more positive attitude toward working the schools, and over 50% said that new relationships with the public schools had been produced.
In an earlier study commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation, researchers identified that the key components of successful service learning efforts included the following:
- Staff believes that youth are resources.
- Students make real decisions and solve real problems.
- Responsibilities and accountability are clear.
- Classroom learning occurs in authentic ways.
- Nurturing teachers and other adults are essential.
- Time for processing, planning, and reflection on service is provided for both students and teachers.
According to these researchers, successful learning in the middle grades is linked to a school's strong beliefs that adolescents can make "genuine, lasting, and responsible contributions" to their communities and that they can learn their academic subjects and
develop ethics through service learning integrated into the curriculum (Harrington & Schine, 1989).
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