Service Learning: Standards and Research

Service-Learning Standards

Service-Learning Research

K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice

From the National Youth Leadership Council (2008)

1. Meaningful Service: Service-learning actively engages participants in meaningful and personally relevant service activities.

2. Link to Curriculum : Service-learning is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.

3. Reflection : Service-learning incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one's relationship to society.

4. Diversity : Service-learning promotes understanding of diversity and mutual respect among all participants.

5. Youth Voice: Service-learning provides youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service-learning experiences with guidance from adults.

6. Partnerships : Service-learning partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.

7. Progress Monitoring: Service-learning engages participants in an ongoing process to assess the quality of implementation and progress toward meeting specified goals, and uses results for improvement and sustainability.

8. Duration and Intensity: Service-learning has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.

For more information on the K-12 Service-Learning standards, visit National Youth Leadership Council.

Research on Service-Learning

For the most recent research on service-learning click on any of the below:

Shelley H. Billig's Using Evidence to Make the Case for Service-Learning as an Academic Achievement Intervention in K-12 Schools

Shelley H. Billig's Unpacking What Works in Service-Learning: Promising Research Based Practices to Improve Student Outcomes.

Shelley H. Billig's Lessons from Research on Teaching and Learning: Service-Learning as Effective Instruction .

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse's K-12 Service-Learning Project Planning Toolkit.

Education Commission of the States' Service-Learning Policies and Practices: A Research-Based Advocacy Paper .

National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)
Growing to Greatness: The State of Service Learning Project is the first comprehensive, national study of the state of service-learning in kindergarten through 12th grade. It documents the unfolding story of service-learning, providing useful information to improve implementation, inform public policy, and give a clear picture of the many ways young people contribute to society.

What role does service-learning play in improving education?

Why do administrators support service-learning as a key element in school improvement?

Service-Learning Bibliographies available online at the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

Fact Sheets from the Clearinghouse

California Dept of Education information

Closing the achievement gap--relates to service-learning research
http://www.seer.org/pages/overview.htm

The DPI has distributed a report that summarizes comments from principals, students and teachers about their service-learning experiences.

Service-Learning Standards

Service-Learning Research

For questions about this information, contact Theresa L. Dary (608) 261-7494

Last updated on 7/7/2009 12:54:13 PM