Fulfilling Our Civic Mission: Service-Learning in Massachusetts

A Report by the Community Service-Learning Advisory Council to the Massachusetts Board of Education

March 2006

The Community Service-Learning Advisory Council

The Community Service-Learning Advisory Council was established in October of 2000 to review, advise, and make recommendations on state service-learning programs and policies to promote academically meaningful, sustained, and high quality service-learning experiences throughout students' schooling. In this capacity, the Council will serve as a resource to both the Board of Education and the Department of Education in Massachusetts

Julie BartschSheldon Berman, Ed.D.

Co-Chairs

Margaret E. Collins

Jeri F. Cooper*

Jessica Donner (former DOE Liaison)

Kristen McKinnon (DOE Liaison)

Alan Melchior

Carol W. Kinsley, Ed.D.

Sarah Krongard

Barbara Locurto

Kenneth W. Pottel*

Heather H. Putnam Boulger

David Roach

Felisa Tibbits

*Indicates former members to the Council.

For more information, questions or comments regarding this publication and/or the Community Service-Learning Advisory Council to:

Kristen McKinnon

Community Service-Learning Specialist

Massachusetts Department of Education

350 Main Street, Malden, MA02148

Phone: 781-338-6306 Email:

Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Massachusetts Board of Education, the Massachusetts Department of Education, or of the Corporation for National and Community Service or the Learn and Serve America Program. The publication is intended to be used in connection with the advancement of service-learning as educational methodology. Publication of this document was supported by funds from the Corporation for National and Community Service under Learn and Serve America Grant No. 03KCAMA001.

The Massachusetts Department of Education authorizes the use of this publication for non-commercial educational purposes only. Any re-publication or distribution of this document must acknowledge that it was produced by the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Corporation for National and Community Service. It cannot be sold or shown for profit.
“The original purpose of education was to build and sustain a democracy. Service-learning is part of the broader plan to promote democracy and citizenship within students and adults.”

“[Service-learning] is the application of classroom learning. Unless you make learning real, you’re not going to achieve the full impact of the curriculum on students. We need to make sure that students have a chance to apply their learning out in the community.”

“Service-learning completes the circle in a community. Education becomes more relevant. The sense of community grows. The community’s support for the schools increases because they see the relevance in what students are doing. So every part of the circle gets stronger.”

Quotes from a Massachusetts Administrator’s Roundtable on Service-Learning
Introduction

In 2000, the Massachusetts Board of Educationauthorized the formation of a Community Service-Learning Advisory Council (Advisory Council) to advise the Boardand the Department of Educationonhow best to utilize service-learning to improve student performance, enhance students’ social development and engage students civically. Over the past five years the members of the Advisory Council have provided ongoing advice and assistance to the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Board of Education on the state’s service-learning programs. However, it became clear to the Advisory Council that in order to provide ongoing advice and assistance on the future of the state’s service-learning programs, we needed to assess the current status of service-learning in Massachusetts and think strategically about what polices and practices the state could implement to best advance service-learning.

In 2001, the Advisory Council began surveying schools and superintendents to assess the degree to which districts had effectively implemented service-learning, including the policies that best supported integration and the challenges schools and districts confronted that limited implementation and growth. This report details the history of service-learning in Massachusetts, the findings of our research, and recommendations that educators, the Board of Education and the legislature can use to enhance the value and effectiveness of service-learning. Research has shown that service-learning, if done well, can contribute significantly to students’ academic, civic and social development. With declining rates of civic engagement and civic knowledge among young people, there is no more critical time to invest our energies in this area than now. We hope this report will enable local and state policymakers to renew their efforts in direct and constructive ways to realize the vision of helping young people become engaged, informed, and effective citizens through acts of service that are fully integrated into their academic studies.

Executive Summary

Over the past twenty years, service-learning – the involvement of students in community service linked to classroom learning – has become an increasingly common component of schooling in Massachusetts and across the nation. Nationally, nearly a third of all public schools and half of all high schools report the use of service-learning in classrooms, up from less than 10% in 1984. In Massachusetts, the 2001-2002 survey of school districts discussed in this document points to a similar level of service-learning activity, with more than a third of all school districts reporting the use of service-learning in classrooms.

Service-learning has grown over the past decade for a number of reasons. For many educators, parents, and civic leaders, service-learning is seen as a way of strengthening the civic mission of schools and, in the words of the federal legislation supporting service-learning, of “renew[ing] the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community” across the United States. For others, service-learning provides a means of deepening classroom learning by providing critical opportunities for young people to apply their learning in real-world settings. Service-learning offers young people needed developmental experiences, providing them with the opportunity to take responsibility for others, work closely with adults, and see themselves as positive contributors to their communities. At the same time, service-learning programs in schools create new links between schools and the community, often leading to new partnerships, stronger communities and renewed support for the public schools.

Massachusetts was an early leader in the field of service-learning in the 1980s. In fact, the federal legislation drafted by Senator Edward M. Kennedy that led to the creation of the Commission for National and Community Service in 1990, was modeled on practice in Springfield, Massachusetts. The 2001-2002 survey of school districts discussed in this document, however, reveals that while the use of service-learning as a teaching strategy in Massachusetts schools is growing, the infrastructure for supporting practice excellence and integration has not kept pace. This is one of the major findings that emerged through survey results of 119 of the 350 school districts. Other findings include:

  • Service-learning is most often encouraged as a practice in order to enhance students’ sense of civic responsibility and foster positive relationships with the community.
  • Service-learning is most widespread in schools and districts where there is policy and administrative support.
  • Barriers to improving and expanding the practice of service-learning include lack of funding, teacher overload, and limited professional development.

The goal of this report is to provide a set of recommendations, based on the past ten years of experience in the field, that will enable Massachusetts to take positive next steps in capitalizing on the potential of service-learning for all students. Based on the responses of school districts in Massachusetts, the CSL Advisory Council makes the following four recommendations:

Recommendation 1: State and local leaders need to provide the necessary leadership, policy support and public advocacy for service-learning as a means of accomplishing the state’s civic and academic goals for youth.

Recommendation 2: State and local leaders need to increase resources available to support service-learning.

Recommendation 3: State and local leaders need to increase professional support and resources for service-learning.

Recommendation 4: The Massachusetts Department of Education needs to establish a system to collect data on and evaluate service-learning programs.

PART I: Service-Learning

Service-Learning Is More Than Community Service

Service-learning is an approach to teaching and learning that integrates community service with academic learning. In well-designed service-learning programs, service in the school and the community is used to enrich and extend classroom learning by providing students with opportunities to apply academic skills in real-world settings and to make connections between academic content and everyday issues and concerns. The following are based on examples from Massachusetts communities:

  • Students involved in service-learning might hone their historical research skills by developing a local history trail through the town or teaching a class in local history to students in younger grades.
  • As part of their science instruction, students may conduct research on the wetlands, woodlands or watershed areas near their school and use the data they collect to inform the community about threats to those environments and/or strategies for protecting local resources.
  • Younger students might practice their reading and writing skills by creating books that they read to pre-school students or by creating cards and stories to be read to senior citizens; older students might strengthen their writing and history skills by interviewing veterans and transcribing their experiences in a book for the local library.
  • Students of all ages (kindergarten through high school) might enhance their civic knowledge and skills by identifying issues they are concerned about in their community, and then researching the policies, laws, and other public processes that related to those issues, and by exploring steps they could take to promote useful solutions.

The options for curriculum integration are limitless with service-learning.

Service-learning is distinct from community service in that it is fully integrated into the curriculum. It is not an “add-on” volunteer activity, an hourly service requirement, or a method of punishment. It is, in the words of the National Commission on Service-Learning, “a teaching and learning methodology that integrates community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”[1]

Good quality service-learning, as defined by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the primary federal funder of service-learning programs, is also good quality instruction. Effective service-learning programs involve significant time on task through sustained (rather than one-time) service activities. Quality service-learning projects have:

  • clear and specific learning objectives;
  • a strong link to the curriculum students are studying;
  • instruction that helps draw the connections between the service that students provide and what they are learning in the classroom;
  • regular, structured opportunities for discussion and reflection; and
  • clear opportunities for student leadership in the design and execution of the projects.[2]

As Senator John Glenn, chair of the National Commission on Service-Learning, recently wrote:

Service-learning provided a context for subject learning, and a way to demonstrate what students had learned. Rather than competing for learning time, service-learning provided a holistic learning experience, bringing together learning from books and lectures with learning from hands-on application of knowledge and skills in real-world settings. Service-learning embodies the ancient saying: “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.”[3]

Why Service-Learning?

“I want my students to feel they can make a difference in the world. Service-learning is the quintessential way to get there.” Sheldon Berman, superintendent, Hudson Public Schools

“I agree that kids have got to be civically responsible, but they also become better artists, better mathematicians, better scientists by applying learning in a real way.” Wayne Lague, former superintendent, Wareham Public Schools

Why is service-learning important? Service-learning offers schools a way to meet a number of the critical challenges facing them today. A growing body of research shows that service-learning can have a positive impact on students’ academic engagement and skills, civic responsibility, and personal and social development. These impacts range from increased enjoyment in school and knowledge of subject matter, to decreased behavioral problems, heightened care for community, improved relationships, and a greater desire to learn. As one recent summary of the literature noted, service-learning’s strength is its capacity to work in multiple domains: helping to develop students’ “heads, hearts, and hands.”[4]

A number of recent publications have summarized the emerging research on service-learning, including the report from the National Commission on Service-Learning; the report on the Civic Mission of Schools from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), and articles in leading educational publications, including the Phi Delta Kappan and the School Administrator magazines.[5] The findings across these reports affirm the contribution service-learning can make to a student’s education.

School Engagement and Academic Skills

A number of studies have found that students who engage in service-learning activities are more engaged in school and, in many cases, demonstrate improved academic performance compared to non-participants. Students learn best when they connect their learning to something meaningful. The evaluation of the federally-funded Learn and Serve America program, as well as studies in California, Michigan, Hawaii, and Texas have found positive impacts that include significantly higher levels of student engagement, increased attendance, improved course grades and grade point average, higher standardized test scores, and reduced dropout rates. While the results have varied widely from study to study (reflecting the diversity of service-learning programs and strategies), as a group the research suggests that involvement in service-learning has a positive impact on attitudes towards school and general school performance. The Learn and Serve study found that academic impacts were particularly strong for minority students and students who had been classified as educationally disadvantaged, suggesting that service-learning can be a useful tool in the effort to reduce the achievement gap. Assessments by students themselves parallel the more formal findings, with large majorities of students generally reporting that their service-learning experiences were particularly engaging and that “they learned more” in their service-learning programs than in their regular classes.[6]

Civic Responsibility

While the major focus of educational policy makers has been on student academic performance, there is also growing national concern about the civic skills and attitudes of young people. Recent research, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the International Education Assessment Civic Education Study, and surveys conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) “bear out the conclusion that levels of civic learning – and more importantly, civic engagement – are disappointing.” While many more young people are engaged in community service than ever before, civic engagement among youth is on the decline. According to the CIRCLE report, the Civic Mission of Schools, “Since 1972, turnout among young people under 25 years of age has slipped by about 15 percentage points. In 2000, young people (ages 18-24) constituted only 8% of all voters.” Other studies suggest that young people also do not have adequate civic, historical and political knowledge. Results from the 1998 NEAP Civics Assessment, show that “nearly one-third of high school seniors lack a basic understanding of how American government operates.”[7]

Almost every study of service-learning has found that service-learning has a positive impact on the attitudes, skills, and behaviors that are associated with active citizenship. Students involved in service-learning gain an increased sense of social and civic responsibility and are more likely to report an awareness of community needs, increased connection to community, and a commitment to lifelong involvement in their communities than students in a comparison group. Service-learning students in other studies showed an increase in their understanding of how government works and an increased ability to understand and analyze community issues.[8]

Students who are involved in service-learning are also more likely to become active citizens as a result. The national Learn and Serve evaluation found that students in service-learning programs were significantly more likely to volunteer in their communities as a result of involvement in a service-learning program, and that high school students continued to volunteer more regularly a year after their involvement in service-learning. One longer-term study found that high school students who participated in service-learning and service were found to be more likely to be engaged in a community organization and to vote fifteen years after their participation in the program than those who did not participate. National surveys of adult volunteers have long shown a strong relationship between volunteer service as a young person and later volunteering as an adult.[9] In this domain, as with the studies of academic impacts of service-learning, the existing research varies widely in the specific impacts, age groups, and programs that are examined. What is generally consistent, however, is the finding that service-learning programs can help to build the kinds of civic attitudes, skills and behaviors that are at the core of education’s civic mission.