Sociology Commons^™

A Way With Words: A Unique Approach To Literacy And Career Development, Allyson D. Brathwaite

Special Topics, General

This article describes a unique collaboration between the Career Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia Public Schools and the community. A WAY WITH WORDS is an "America Reads" community literacy program that has enriched the educational experience of graduate, undergraduate and K-5 students since 1996. Teams of undergraduate volunteers led by graduate students in Counseling Psychology and Educational Leadership (ELPA) tutor local children in an effort to increase literacy. The teams interact and communicate with children, parents, teachers and principals as they serve during school and in after-school programs that they co create with school administrators and community members. …

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Dispositions, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

The University of Idaho, Division of Teacher Education, is refocusing its teacher certification program to reflect national standards and place P-12 students at the center of preservice learning. The integration of service-learning into course work throughout the program ensures that a community of learners will be developed both in academic settings and in society.

Summer Service Learning — What Distinguishes Students Who Choose To Participate From Those Who Do Not? Part One: Religion, Parents, And Social Awareness, Mary Beckman, Thomas A. Trozzolo

Higher Education

Since 1980, 2455 Notre Dame students have participated in the Center for Social Concerns’ Summer Service Project Internship (SSPI), previously referred to as the Summer Service Program, or SSP. Currently, over 200 students choose this experience yearly. These students spend eight weeks working with disadvantaged populations during the summer, as part of a three-credit course. Students have volunteered in homeless shelters, hospitals, soup kitchens, day care centers, schools, and boys and girls clubs in more than 300 cities since the beginning of the program two decades ago.

Executive Summary - The Philadelphia Freedom Schools Junior Leader Project, Shelley H. Billig

Special Topics, General

The Philadelphia Freedom Schools Junior Leader Project is a bold initiative to foster leadership and civic engagement for young people in the Philadelphia School District. Beginning in 1999, the school district project was developed to help young African American and other high school students to become strong leaders in their schools and communities. The Junior Leader project recruited freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in high school to learn about their heritage; work with young children to help them gain academic skills; participate in meaningful dialogue about social justice; learn and engage in community action strategies; develop leadership skills; and create pathways …

Images Of Service: Reflections From The Campus Compact Midwest Collaboration Community Service Directors Fellowship Program 2000-2001, Beth Blissman, Jay Cooper

Higher Education

We Americans are people of the journey. From boats across the Atlantic by way of Pilgrim quest, to the holocaust of the middle passage, to classic travelogues such as On the Road or Travels with Charley (in Search of America}, the stamp of the mythic journey seems to be indelibly planted on our national psyche. And as we all know, journeys have several staple elements: anticipation, consumption of a variety of foods at exorbitant prices, wrestling with a roadmap, and children in the back crying, "Are we there yet?" A quintessentially American component to the journey, however, is the postcard.

Service-Learning On American Campuses: Challenges For Pedagogy And Practice, Sandra Enos

Higher Education

Over the past twenty years, there has been a steady increase in the number of students involved in community service and service-learning programs on college campuses. A recent report by Campus Compact (2003) noted that 33 percent of college students on its member campuses were engaged in community service programs during the last academic year. Surveys by Compact found that eleven percent of higher education faculty offered an average of 30 service-learning courses on campuses (Campus Compact 2003, 2003a). Increasingly, institutions of higher education are supporting these efforts by establishing community service and service-learning offices, staffing them, and by providing …

Moving Mountains: Institutional Culture And Transformational Change, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

Our institutions are changing all the time but for the most part these changes do not make a big difference, either because the results are confined to an isolated segment of the organization or because the environment is not responsive. To be considered truly transformational, the initiative must alter the culture of the institutions by changing select underlying assumptions and institutional behaviors, processes, and products; it must be deep and pervasive, affecting the whole institution; it must be intentional; and it must occur consistently over time (Eckel, Hill, & Green, 1998).

Principles Of Best Practice In Community Service Work-Study, Erin Bowley, Marsha Adler

Higher Education

The following document outlines best practice in combining college and university work-study experiences with community service and service-learning. The principles were created by Erin Bowley and Marsha Adler for Campus Compact after conducting focus groups with practitioners from 52 colleges and universities in May and June, 2002. Ten principles that help construct an effective community service work-study program are listed below, then explained in greater detail with key points and specific campus examples. Representatives from the campuses used as examples are willing to be contacted for further information; their contact information appears at the end of the document.

Eleven Principles Of Effective Character Education, Tom Lickona, Eric Schaps, Catherine Lewis

Special Topics, General

There is no single script for effective character education, but there are some important basic principles. The following eleven principles serve as criteria that schools and other groups can use to plan a character education effort and to evaluate available character education programs, books, and curriculum resources.

Service Helix: A Grounded Theory Of College Student Development And Outcomes Through Involvement In Community Service, Mary Kay Schneider

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Community service and service learning have been lauded as ways of teaching civic and social responsibility during college. In order to better understand the concept of social and civic responsibility and whether students gravitated toward these concepts, this study was undertaken. The grounded theory was designed to understand students' experiences with community service, what they see as outcomes from their involvement, and the role of responsibility in this dynamic.

Grounded theory was utilized as the methodology because of the lack of research and theory regarding service and the outcomes for the servers. To achieve depth of understanding, information-rich participants were …

Serving Safely: A Risk Management Resource For College Service Programs, Sharon A. Joyce, Elaine K. Ikeda

Guides

This resource book has drawn upon the expertise of individuals in the fields of service learning, community service, risk management, insurance, and law. The valuable feedback and input from the experts in these fields has not only made this book possible, but it has strengthened the readability and technical accuracy of a complex subject.

Destination Democracy: An Educator's Guide To The Activities, Rahima C. Wade

Guides

Destination Democracy is the high school service-learning curriculum produced by Kids Voting USA. Through the lessons and activities in Destination Democracy, high school students practice the skills of democratic living as they learn important civic lessons in the classroom and participate in activities in their communities. The service-learning activities in the curriculum focus on meaningful civic involvement through voting, voter registration, working for political candidates, educating young children about the political process, and addressing community issues of interest to high school youth. Destination Democracy can be used by high school teachers, club advisors, youth group leaders and others interested in …

Community College Engagement In Community Programs And Services, Lisa Phinney, Mary Kay Schoen, Ellen Hause

Partnerships/Community

In 2001, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) conducted a national survey of community colleges to identify their community programs and services. Survey responses demonstrated a strong level of community college commitment to improving the quality of life in their communities and offering a place to pursue lifelong learning. Responding colleges indicated that they are engaged in a wide variety of programs and services designed to reflect the diverse needs of the communities they serve, with many partnering with local and state government, nonprofit organizations, and local schools.

Searching For The Meaning Of Youth Civic Engagement: Notes From The Field, Molly W. Andolina, Krista Jenkins, Scott Keester, Cliff Zukin

Civic Engagement

This article reports on the early lessons from a multiphase, multimethod study of youth civic engagement. It uses insights from expert discussions along with a series of focus groups to explore how young adults approach politics, volunteerism, community, civic duty, and generational identity. The study finds many of the distinguishing characteristics of today's youth to be subtle and nuanced, which poses unique challenges for qualitative research of the generation. The important implications of language are discussed in detail.

The New Student Politics Curriculum Guide, Keith Morton, Sandra Enos, Sarah E. Long

Curriculum

The New Student Politics: The Wingspread Statement on Student Civic Engagement (2002) can be assigned as a text in a political science service-learning course that has as an explicit course objective the exploration of contemporary conceptions of citizenship, or a sociology service-learning course that focuses on community building and social transformation. Additionally, the text can be incorporated in service-learning courses across the disciplines with the aid of The New Student Politics Curriculum Guide. The Curriculum Guide is designed to provide a structure for engaging students in reflection on their community service experiences in a way that allows for the …

Inducing Voluntary Community Service In Undergraduates: The Relative Contributions Of Prior Experience, Coursework, And The Dispositions Of Empathy And Moral Development, Susan M. Hudec

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

In the past twenty years, higher education has been criticized for what is perceived to be a failure to create better citizens. As a result of this criticism, a variety of pedagogical and curricula innovations have been attempted. One of these innovations is service learning, a form of experiential learning, which engages students in activities that combine fulfillment of community needs and opportunities for promotion of student learning and development (Kendall, 1990). This study hypothesized that moral development and empathy would increase over the course of the required service learning experience in the first semester of college and that required …

Writing Toward Democracy: Service-Learning And Composition, Glenn C. Hutchinson Jr.

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study will show how encouraging students to write toward democracy could help them to become better writers and citizens. Service-learning can help students learn to write through active inquiry, collaboration with different discourse communities, and consideration of their roles as citizens. However, service-learning must meet three challenges in order to be successful.

First, I will argue that freshman composition's subordinate status as a service course to the university can inhibit a pedagogy of service-learning. Even though service-learning may be a useful term to name this pedagogy, I propose that we find a different name in order to emphasize student …

Service-Learning In California: A Profile Of The Calserve Service-Learning Partnerships (1997-2000): Executive Summary, Mary Sue Ammon, Andrew Fureo, Bernadette Chi, Ellen Middaugh

Partnerships/Community

Responding to the National and Community Service Act of 1990, the California Department of Education developed the CaiServe Initiative to support K-12 service-learning partnerships that would enhance student academic achievement and civic responsibility, increase teacher effectiveness and satisfaction, heighten school district awareness of service-learning, and provide authentic service to the community. The 1997-2000 local evaluation process was designed to assist CaiServe partnerships in the collection of participation and impact data for their local service-learning activities. The data collected were also to be used to develop a statewide profile of service-learning participation and impact across CaiServe's funded partnerships. The profile report …

Campus-Community Partnerships: The Terms Of Engagement, Robert G. Bringle, Julie A. Hatcher

Partnerships/Community

The emergence of service-learning in higher education and the renewed emphasis on community involvement presents colleges and universities with opportunities to develop campus-community partnerships for the common good. These partnerships can leverage both campus and community resources to address critical issues in local communities. Campus-community partnerships are a series of interpersonal relationships between (a) campus administrators, faculty, staff, and students and (b) community leaders, agency personnel, and members of communities. The phases of relationships (i.e., initiation, development, maintenance, dissolution) and the dynamics of relationships (i.e., exchanges, equity, distribution of power) are explored to provide service-learning instructors and campus personnel with …

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Professional Knowledge & Skills, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

Community service has a long-standing tradition in the mission and purpose of California Lutheran University. Believing that the adoption of academic service-learning as an innovative and effective instructional strategy can enhance and enrich the teaching and learning experiences of both Faculty and students, in 1994, the School of Education included service-learning as a required assignment in several courses in the Teacher Preparation Program.

Community Perspectives In Higher Education Service Leaming And Volunteerism, Andrea Vernon

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study is a qualitative analysis measuring community perceptions of college student volunteers and service learners. The purpose of the study was to examine college student service learning and volunteer activities from the community perspective through data gathered from community agency personnel who work directly with college student volunteers who are serving to meet the needs of youth.

Personnel from 15 community youth service agencies in seven Montana communities were interviewed to determine (a) how agencies ensure and measure the quality and effectiveness of college student volunteer service, (b) the impacts that college student volunteers have at the youth service …

A Meta-Analysis Of Service Learning Research In Middle And High Schools, Amy E. White

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study examines the relationship between service learning innovations and improved academics, self-concept, and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. Meta-Analysis is employed to arrive at effect-size estimates for each construct. A historical overview of service learning is presented and a detailed description of the study selection process is provided. The data revealed a moderate relationship between service learning participation and academics, self-concept and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. The findings are presented, and some appropriate conclusions are drawn. A discussion of the implications of these findings and recommendations for future …

The Community Is Their Textbook: Maryland's Experiment With Mandatory Service For Students, Suzanne Goldsmith

School K-12

At its best, service learning enriches both students and their communities. But creating good programs isn't easy.

Service Learning: Discovering Effective Communication Strategies By Emphasizing The Community's Perspective, Elizabeth Oppe

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

Service learning is a broadly defined term that may encompass a spectrum of projects and course work ranging from acts of charity to activism for social change. "The aim of service learning is always to heighten awareness in our communities that we have the capacity to both learn from and serve each other... and work toward a more just and egalitarian society" (bttp://www.invcol.pdx.edulic.htm). Another description of service learning from Brevard Community College's The Power (1994) explains that, for many community organizations, students augment service delivery, meet crucial human needs, and provide a basis for future citizen support. The Power depicts …

Need To Update Your Information Technology? Try Service Learning, Robin A. Alexander

Partnerships/Community

While the need for information in the nonprofit sector is great, shortages of time, staff, money, and expertise make it hard to use information technology effectively. The result is often a vicious cycle in which staff time is spent compiling information manually when a simple database could dramatically speed the process. But there's no time to create it.

At A Glance: What We Know About The Effects Of Service-Learning On College Students, Faculty, Institutions And Communities, 1993- 2000: Third Edition, Janet Eyler, Dwight E. Giles Jr., Christine M. Stenson, Charlene J. Gray

Higher Education

"At A Glance" summarizes the findings of service-learning research in higher education over the past few years and includes an annotated bibliography. It is designed to provide a quick overview of where we are in the field today and a map to the literature.

At A Glance: What We Know About The Effects Of Service-Learning On College Students, Faculty, Institutions And Communities, 1993- 2000: Third Edition, Janet Eyler, Dwight E. Giles Jr., Christine M. Stenson, Charlene J. Gray

Bibliographies

"At A Glance" summarizes the findings of service-learning research in higher education over the past few years and includes an annotated bibliography. It is designed to provide a quick overview of where we are in the field today and a map to the literature.

Cultural Aspects Of Preschool Education: Ojibwa, Odawa And Potawatomi Indian Children's ''Ways Of Knowing And Communicating'' In Early Intervention And Head Start Programs, Lois M. Bissell Jircitano

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This research investigated what Anishinabe cultural values and beliefs are transmitted in the Head Start and Early Head Start oft he Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, and how Anishinabe values and beliefs affect instructional communications, teacher/student relationships, and the learning styles used by Native teachers in the educational process of Anishinabe children in the preschool situation. The study used an ethnographic approach to identify what informants would describe was their culture among the four Inter-Tribal Preschool programs. Observations completed in the classroom, home and community environment sought to discover how parents, teachers, children and staff in the preschool process use the …

Learning With A Purpose: Academic Service-Learning Curriculum, Dale Rice, Kathy Hurst, Joanne Caniglia

Curriculum

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program is authorized under Title II of P. L. 103-382. It provides institutions of higher education the opportunity to partner with K-12 teachers and administrators to assist with professional development through sustained, high-quality professional development activities in mathematics, science, reading, and other areas of the core academic curriculum.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development project shared here was undertaken by Eastern Michigan University and Romulus Community Schools to provide Romulus teachers professional development to integrate the teaching methodology of academic service-learning into their mathematics and science curriculum. The goal was to increase academic achievement …

Technology As A Mirror, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

IN CYBERSPACE instructors are more exposed, vulnerable, and less able to retain a veil of superior knowledge and expertise that has given scholars a sense of identity. We can, however, deepen our understanding, authentically practice the disciplines that we love, and enter new relationships to the learners who entrust themselves to our care. This I learned from faculty I consulted at the University of Vermont. And this is how technology can influence--and further--the aims of education.