Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Evaluation Methods That Build Quality Into K-16 Service-Learning Programs, L. Richard Bradley

Evaluation/Reflection

This document covers: What Service-Learning is; Steps in the Evaluation Process; Initial Conditions for Successful Service-Learning Program Implementation; Service-Learning Evaluation 101; Service-Learning Evaluation 201; Service-Learning Evaluation 301; Comparison of Evaluation Strategies in Relation to Service-Learning; and List of Surveys and Instruments used by the Four-District Consortium.

Measuring Progress; Evaluating The Strengthening Of Communities, Phil Bartle

Evaluation/Reflection

Our goal is stated; we want to strengthen communities. We feel that we have a methodology to do so, but how can we know when we have succeeded, or to what extent?

What we may mean by the above question, is, "How do we measure the strengthening of communities that we claim we are doing?" Put in other ways, "What do we mean by strengthening communities, by increasing their capacities, by empowering them?" We can use these three (1 empowering, 2 strengthening, 3 capacity building) interchangeably, although one or another may be more acceptable to different people. …

We The People... Project Citizen, Civic Center For Education

Curriculum

We the People... Project Citizen is a civic education program for middle school students that promotes competent and responsible participation in state and local government. It actively engages students in learning how to monitor and influence public policy and encourages civic participation among students, their parents, and members of the community.

Cis Middle School Community Service Handbook 1998-99, Cis Middle School

Curriculum

Our educational philosophy stresses the development of the whole person. Its concerns extend beyond the focus on academic and intellectual achievement and encourage responsible citizenship in the world outside the classroom.

Mapping Community Assets Workbook, Diane Dorfman

Curriculum

Asset mapping, drawing a map of what is valuable in our communities, is an exercise in community development. If you are looking for a way to begin work towards organizing local people to take an active role in the place where they live, it is a good idea to start with what you know. If you don't know the place where you live, how will you know how to take advantage of all there is to offer? How will you know how to build a strong, active community without the foundation of assets that are already right there?

This workbook …

Service-Learning In The Community - Are We Ready For The Journey?, William Finger

Partnerships/Community

It's late Sunday afternoon in downtown Raleigh, NC, in a low concrete building next to the railroad tracks. We are working in a small room where the 40 residents will eat supper in about an hour, when a church group serves the only full meal of the day for many of the residents. We have folded the tables and pushed them against the wall. Most of the residents are watching television in the only other common room in the building or lying on their bunks in the men's or women's dorm, each a single large room. A few are in …

Community-Based Education And Service: The Hpsisn Experience, Sherril B. Glemmon, Barbara A. Holland, Anu F. Shinnamon, Beth A. Morris

Partnerships/Community

Health services delivery is increasingly shifting to community-based settings. The competencies required of future health professionals require a shift in their educational preparation. Service leaning is suggested as an educational method with the potential to reform health professions education in tandem with the changes occurring in the health services delivery. The Health Professions Schools in Service to the Nation Program (HPSISN), a US demonstration project of service learning in the health professions, examines the impact of service leaning on students, faculty, communities and institutions across a wide array of universities and community settings. This paper describes the evaluation of the …

Integrating Community Into Training, Robert D. Shumer

Partnerships/Community

Community involvement and partnership are key to the success of National Service programs. The best way to show members and the community - the importance of working with the community is to incorporate the community Into every aspect of your program, including your training - from pre-service training and continuing through in-service and close-of-service activities.

How Undergraduates Are Affected By Service Participation, Alexander W. Astin, Linda J. Sax

Higher Education

Based on entering freshman and follow-up data collected from 3,450 students (2,287 women and 1,163 men) attending 42 institutions with federally funded community service programs, the impact of community service participation on undergraduate student development was examined. Even after regression analyses controlled for individual student characteristics at the time of college entry, including the propensity to engage in service, results indicate that participating in service during the undergraduate years substantially enhances the student's academic development, life skill development, and sense of civic responsibility.

A Proposal For The Development Of Fort Hays State University Service Learning Program, Dan Kahl

Higher Education

"Service Learning" is quickly becoming a style of education that is recognized for its' effectiveness and practical benefits. Linking class curriculum with hands-on applications is often referred to as "experiential education". Service Learning is a form of experiential education identified by an equal emphasis on academic learning and service to others. The combination of focusing on meeting community needs, identifying learning objectives, and intentionally reflecting on what is being learned makes service learning different from plain volunteerism or community service.

Academic Effects Of Service-Learning, Elizabeth B. Gardner, Corinne M. Baron

Higher Education

Service-learning is growing in popularity. Ziolkowski (1996) pointed out that if service-learning is to become a lasting component in American education, it must have a clear link to "the academy" (in addition to the development of moral and civic values and the benefit to the community). We therefore examined students' perception of their learning of specific aspects of course content. We measured perceived learning in two sections of Cognitive Psychology in which half of the students did service-learning. We asked each student to rate his or her knowledge of Attention, Memory, Language, Cognitive Development, Metacognition, Individual Differences in cognitive processes, …

Service Learning As A Strategy To Prepare Teacher Candidates For Contemporary Diverse Classrooms, Deborah Hamm, David Dowell, Jean Houck

Higher Education

The article describes a service-learning program jointly developed, implemented, and evaluated by a large university and a culturally and linguistically diverse urban school district. Each semester, over 200 undergraduate students preparing to be teachers learn first-hand about contemporary classrooms by assisting at-risk students. Program evaluation found changes in the undergraduates' attitudes about the importance of social and individual difference on children's learning.

Service-Learning Projects In Composition And Beyond, Thomas Deans, Zan Meyer-Goncalves

Higher Education

All college teachers want their courses to be relevant and provocative, and to encourage students to be more active learners of the discipline, participants in the academy, and citizens in the wider community. As teachers of composition, we first experimented with combining community service with classroom teaching because it promised to advance teaching aims we value, especially making connections between academic courses and community needs, and between cognitive thinking and ethical social action. And we continue with service-learning projects because our experience and students' responses suggest a significant degree of success in meeting those goals. But we are certainly not …

Community Service-Learning In Teacher Education: A Report On Innovative Programs In New England, Beth Wohlleb, Robert Maloy

Higher Education

As the strengths of community service-learning are becoming more recognized by educators at all levels, many institutions of higher education are incorporating CSL as a dynamic pedagogy into their teacher education programs. Many schools or departments of education encourage or require certification candidates to perform CSL as part of their teacher training as ways to learn about the teaching profession through the practice of teaching and reflection. Fewer schools integrate service-learning into their teacher education program in another way: by teaching preservice teachers how to use service-learning as a pedagogy with children in their own future classrooms. This second group …

Higher Education And Civic Responsibility, Alexander W. Astin

Higher Education

It goes without saying that higher education plays a major part in shaping civic life in modern American society. Our colleges and universities not only educate each new generation of leaders in government, business, science, law, medicine, the clergy, and other advanced professions, but are also responsible for setting the standards and training the personnel who will educate the entire citizenry at the precollegiate level. Higher education institutions can also exert important societal influences through the scientific, technological, and cultural knowledge produced by their faculties. (Reprinted with permission by the author.)

Expanding And Sustaining Partnerships, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

The Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) Program requires adaptations in the university environment. We must examine and reinterpret (1) the roles and responsibilities of faculty; (2) the design of the undergraduate curriculum; (3) the structures of the university that create the capacity and support to sustain different working relationships with the community; and (4) our definitions of success and quality.

Community Service And Political Identity Development In Adolescence, Miranda Yates, James Youniss

Civic Engagement

This article addresses the interconnection of political socialization and identity development. We begin with Erikson 's work, which identified the development of political commitment in adolescence as a key aspect of identity formation. We then seek to shed light on the social processes through which youth become engaged in political activities and issues. We discuss the influences of family and peers as well as participation in community service and other civic activities. The development of social responsibility and agency, and an understanding of the complexity of social issues are considered as important facets of political commitment. Data from a case …

Omaha Conditions Survey: 1998, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Publications

The Omaha Conditions Survey: 1998 is the fifth in a series of studies conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The purpose of the Omaha Conditions Survey is to produce and disseminate quality information about issues of importance to the community. The 1998 survey focused on measuring detailed characteristics of the local labor force. This information is intended to help members of the community address issues related to labor availability and employment needs.