Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Engaging Students In Community Issues, Kara A. Mccraw, Susan S. Taylor

School K-12

How can you integrate community resources in the classroom in an exciting and dynamic way? We set out to answer this question in the summer of 1999 when we attended a conference sponsored by the North Carolina Institute of Government. Our immediate goal was to help the freshmen students we teach in a course called ELPSA (Economic, Legal and Political Systems in Action) understand the importance of active citizenship and prudent fiscal decision making. What better way to teach this than through real life examples? After our conference and the introduction to a number of valuable resources and contact points …

What Kind Of Citizen? The Politics Of Assessing Democratic Values, Joel Westheimer, Joesph Kahne, Bethany Rogers

Civic Engagement

I was visiting a middle school the other day and saw a sign on a teacher's classroom wall that said "Assessment is your friend." It had a picture of a cuddly looking puppy on it. There was no explanation for the puppy, so I'm not sure why it was there. But it was cute and the message seemed to be saying that "assessment" if perhaps not man or woman's best friend, is, at the very least, something you need not fear. Now we are living in an era of high stakes testing and standards, so many would believe that there …

Nebraska Home Rule Project: Nebraska Municipal Survey, Robert F. Blair, Dale Krane

Publications

The purpose of the survey was to collect information from Nebraska municipal officials on how state government affects their operations and to identify potential areas for improvement.

Education For Democratic Citizenship, Rosemary C. Salamone

Civic Engagement

Over the past decade, pollsters and pundits have raised warning flags of moral decay and declining political understanding and commitment among Americans. Scandals from Washington to Wall Street, voter apathy and cynicism, and the regeneration of the "me generation" in a climate of unprecedented prosperity have raised increasing concerns in the media over the moral state of the country. The most alarming evidence has emerged from education, validating and documenting the anxieties that Americans share over the failure of schools to create citizens of character. By the mid-1990s, half of the nation's high school students reported that drugs and violence …

Service-Learning: Comparison Of Hospitality Programs In Two- And Four-Year Institutions, Verna M. Ward

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Partnerships between community and academic institutions are the cornerstones of academic service-learning. While the term "academic service-learning" emerged in the 90's, civic or citizenship education has been part of academic curriculums for centuries. Hospitality management programs at two-(n=63) and four-year (n=79) institutions were surveyed for this study using a 21 question faxed survey and two-year (52%) and four-year (48%) institutions responded. Results indicated that academic service-learning was not as prevalent in hospitality management programs of four-year institutions as anticipated, while two-year (67%) institutions had higher participation.

Overall results showed that hospitality program directors did not identify what influences inclusion/exclusion. The …

Doing Good While Doing Well: Service Learning Internships, Louise Rehling

Higher Education

Internships for students in business and professional communication have rightly been seen as a transitional form of coursework: a guided move away from academia and into the workplace. The assumption accompanying this vision has been that, since most business and professional communication students will graduate to work in industry, the best placements for them are, therefore, necessarily in industry as well. Certainly industry-sponsored internships are valuable as career preparation.

Embracing Civic Responsibility, Judith Ramaley

Higher Education

In the past year, there have been several calls for colleges and universities to take up their responsibilities as members of society in order to model the civic virtues and to become instruments of a working democracy. It is becoming clear that a genuine democracy is also a learning society and that good citizenship requires the capacity to form a learning community with others.

Involving English Language Learners In Community-Connected Learning, Lili Allen

Diversity

This brief provides policymakers and state and district-level staff with an overview of how to involve English language learners in community-connected learning programs. It lists effective strategies for involving English language learners in internships and project-based learning programs, gives guidelines for community supervisors, and points out how school structures can support these students' involvement. The brief was produced by JFF in collaboration with the Education Alliance/Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University.

Highlights From Service-Learning In California's Teacher Education Programs: A White Paper, Andrew Furco, Mary Sue Ammon

Service Learning, General

The purpose of this white paper is to provide a set of recommendations for advancing service-learning in California's Teacher Education programs. The recommendations are based on the findings from a three-year study conducted by UC Berkeley's Service-Learning Research & Development Center (SLRDC). This paper reports on the viability of various approaches for advancing K-12 service-learning in teacher education, identifies institutional barriers that hinder the advancement of service-learning in teacher education, and describes successful approaches that institutions have used to advance service-learning in teacher education. The recommendations provided in this paper are intended to inform the California Department of Education and …

Boot Camps And Traditional Correctional Facilities For Juveniles A Comparison Of The Participants, Daily Activities, And Environments, Angela Gover, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The environments of twenty-seven boot camps and twenty-two traditional facilities were examined in a national study of juvenile correctional facilities. Surveys with administrators and data from institutional files indicated that juveniles in the boot camps had less serious offending histories than did those in traditional facilities. Boot camp environments were more structured and most incorporated military basic training components. There were differences in the use of summary punishments and certain other matters, but few differences were found in therapeutic activities. In general, boot camp juveniles were more active but comparison facilities had more educators and other staff for each juvenile. …

Workforce 2000: Reshaping For School-Work-Career Transitions, Terry Pickeral, Dawn Wegter, Ellen Winiarczyk, Debbie Driver, Liz Newport, Eve Alitzer, Kellie Bond, Jill Painter-Holmes, Linda Burgess

School K-12

This document discusses: Definitions and Elements; Program Development; Narratives and Articles; Curriculum Resoures; Reflection; and Assessment.

Statistics Related To Youth Service, Points Of Light Foundation

Special Topics, General

Compiled into this resource packet you will find information to guide the reader towards statistical and narrative research published about young people and volunteer service. Some examples of each report's information are listed, along with a description, when possible, of the methodology involved and contact information for the publisher or research group. Studies are listed in chronological order, with the most recent first, and are not grouped by topic since many studies look at multiple issues related to young people.

The Impacts Of Service Learning On Youth, Schools And Communities: Research On K-12 School-Based Service Learning, 1990 To 1999, Shelley H. Billig

Special Topics, General

This is an excellent review of literature on the outcomes of service-learning for all involved by a respected author. Contents: Prevalence of Service Learning I Rationale for Use in K-12 Public Schools I Evidence of Impact /Impact on Personal and Social Development /Impact on Civic Responsibility /Impact on Student Academic Learning /Impact on Career Exploration and Aspirations /Impact on Schools /Impact on Communities. Includes five-page bibliography of all sources cited.

Day One ... In The Life Of A Program Coordinator, Unknown

Special Topics, General

As a tutoring program coordinator, you must juggle many tasks and responsibilities: forming partnerships with schools and community members, finding and training volunteers, and helping assess students' progress. The "to do" list can seem overwhelming. Day One breaks down typical beginning tasks into six steps: Assess What You Know and What You Have; Define the Program; Set Program Goals and Objectives; Meet with Stakeholders; Write a Memorandum of Understanding; and First Steps Toward Recruiting Volunteers. The information you find here will help you develop a course of action and build a successful program!

Community Service Learning: Pursuing Jewish Ideals Of Compassion And Justice, Joel Westheimer

Special Topics, General

Service learning involves community service activities tied to the academic curriculum. It has strong roots in the progressive philosophy of turn-of-the-century educators like John Dewey, Harold Rugg, and William Kilpatrick, but its Widespread popularity is a contemporary phenomenon. A recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics reveals that 83 percent of high schools currently offer community service opportunities (compared with 27 percent in 1984). School-based service learning is among the fastest growing and popular education reforms of the past three decades. Jewish educators have seen similar

Service Learning Is The Great Connector, Jane Angelis

Service Learning, General

It isn't a coincidence that older people are flocking to learn about computers, the Internet, and E-mail. It's a part of the service-learning movement that has caught America's imagination. Why are older people, technology and service learning such natural partners? Ask a middle-school student who is teaching a computer class to older people. "Some senior citizens are afraid of computers in the beginning," he says, "But we know how to make them more comfortable." That confidence is the hallmark of service-learning programs across the country involving elementary, middle school, high school, and college campuses. William Butler Yeats wrote that ':Education …

A New Model Of Connected Learning, Justine K. Brown

Service Learning, General

Dennis Littky and Elliot Washor always dreamed of building a new type of high school. Throughout his many years in public education as a teacher and administrator, Washor felt that high schools were failing to meet the true needs of students, their families and the community as a whole. Littky imagined building a school that approached learning in a new way, making it a true hands-on experience and involving more than just students and teachers in the process.

The New Majority 2000, Cesar Chavez Foundation

Project Summaries

9th-12th grade students enrolled in a month-long Intersession class organized by members of their faculty and service-learning coaches from the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. For three hours a day for four weeks, students learned about The New Majority 2000 and planned various community projects that would help address the needs of this new majority. They planned an assembly for the senior students at school where they were informed of important political issues such as the environment, military, the Patriot Act, gay marriage, and education and were given the opportunity to register to vote. The culminating project was a community focused …

Peace Crane Earring Project, Meg Clayton

Project Summaries

This service learning project was conducted with a group of seventeen sixth-graders during the 1998/99 school year. It evolved out of another service learning project, which several of these students had participated in the previous year. As with the best of learning experiences, it ballooned and carried both students and teacher in exciting new directions.

Intergenerational, Community-Based Learning And Science Education, James J. Gallagher, Kathleen Hogan

Intergenerational

In the typical mode of formal schooling, adults and youngsters interact within boundaries of clearly defined roles in which teachers teach and students learn. An alternative format is one in which not only adults teach children, but children teach adults, as multiple generations work together on a topic of common concern to their community. Evidence of the benefits of an intergenerational, community-based approach to science education is emerging in various parts of the world.

Facilitator's Manual: Curriculum To Establish An Intergenerational Oral History Program, Institute For Global Education & Service Learning

Intergenerational

The Institute for Global Education and Service Learning is a non-profit teacher training organization that creates service-learning programs and initiates activity-based education in collaboration with schools and organizations across the country and around the world.

Service-Learning Resource Guide For Faculty, Appalachian State University

Guides

Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT) is ASU's clearinghouse for community service and service-learning opportunities in Watauga County and northwest North Carolina. We offer diverse opportunities for individuals and student groups to get involved in human services and environmental advocacy, as well as assist faculty members with integrating community service projects into their academic courses.

Program Site Visit Monitoring Instrument For Commission Staff, Mississippi Commission For Volunteer Service

Guides

Believing that volunteers are a powerful force for community improvement, whose efforts make the most of limited resources, the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service (MCVS) seeks to involve Mississippians to make a difference in every community in the state. As the state's official organization to promote community service and volunteerism, the MCVS invests in Mississippi communities by building public/private coalitions, linking communities and organizations to local and national resources, coordinating state resources for volunteers, and initiating volunteer programs to address unmet needs.

Student Evaluation Of Academic Course With Service Learning Components, Service Learning Collection

Evaluation/Reflection

This survey includes four parts: Background information; Course Commponents; Project Components; and College/Community Partnerships.

Silicon Valley Partnership For Recruiting And Preparing Quality Teachers For Students In High Needs Schools: "It Takes A Valley", Susan Meyers, Amy Strage, Janet Norris

Curriculum

The old African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" seemed apropos as the team members discussed our shared commitment to recruiting and retaining quality teachers for our children. However, we are not a village, we are the Silicon Valley hence, "It takes a valley" to raise the teachers, specifically prepared for the children in our valley who are struggling in high need schools.

Community Service Learning Packet, Martin Kimeldorf

Curriculum

This learning packet contains a set of exercises designed to stimulate the student's thinking about their community and the value of community service. It begins with a personal definition of the word "community." From this definition, the student then gathers information about the school community. Hopefully, by attending school club meetings students will increase their sense of belonging and learn about options for volunteering at their campus. The notion that young people are selfish and hedonistic is examined in a section about stereotypes and biased news reporting. To break up the "worksheet" sequence two movie assignment guides are provided, where …

Kids Initiative Neighborhood Development Facilitator's Manual: Curriculum To Implement Service-Learning, Institute For Global Education & Service Learning

Curriculum

The Institute for Global Education and Service Learning is a non-profit teacher training organization that creates service-learning programs and initiates activity-based education in collaboration with schools and organizations across the country and around the world.

Linking Learning & Serving: Teaching Core Content Through Service Learning, Kentucky Department Of Education

Curriculum

Experts agree that students learn best when their learning experience is hands-on, immediate, relevant, and what they are learning is directly tied to an experience with another human being. Service-learning is a teaching strategy that connects a service experience in the community to classroom curriculum. This book highlights ways teachers can engage students in service-learning projects that will both satisfy the core content guidelines and make learning more meaningful for students.

Keep in mind that this document only briefly touches on how to utilize service-learning to meet required core content. While the ideas contained in this document just skim the …

Service-Learning As "Citizenship" Education: The Promise And The Puzzles, Bernadette Sun Chi

Curriculum

Since developing "citizenship" is a prevalent goal for many service-learning programs and policies, Bernadette Chi's National Service Fellowship research proposed to examine what and how students learn "citizenship" through service-learning. She explored students' attitudes about service, their understanding of citizenship, and the relationship between the concepts as a way to consider how service-learning contributed to students' conceptions of citizenship. To suggest how and why students' attitudes differed, this report also briefly describes the significant role of teachers in shaping service-learning experiences, and the variety of service-learning practices that contribute to a diversity of outcomes. In coordination with a state-funded study …

Read And Lead: Fostering Literacy Through Cross-Age Tutoring (Facilitator's Manual To Implement A National Literacy Corps), Institute For Global Education And Service Learning

Curriculum

Congratulations on choosing the Read & Lead Facilitator's Guide for your cross-age tutoring program! This guide is designed to help you facilitate a National Literacy Corps in your own school, after school program, organization, or community. The National Literacy Corps began in Philadelphia high schools in 1991. Since that time the National Literacy Corps model has been implemented in schools across the country and in England. The National Literacy Corps was recognized as an exemplary model at the President's Summit on America's Future in April 1997. Since 2000, the model has been modified for successful implementation in middle and upper …