Growing to Greatness 2008 THE STATE OF SERVICE-LEARNING A report from the National Youth Leadership Council WITH FUNDING PROVIDED BY Service-Learning by the Numbers 299.4 Estimated U.S. population in millions.1 4.7 Estimated millions of U.S. K-12 students 54 Percentage of national 2006 General engaged in service-learning.2 Election turnout of voters age 30 and older.1 53.3 Estimated U.S. population in millions of youth (ages 5-17).1 1.3 Number in millions of 2005-2006 25 Percentage of national 2006 K-12 students supported by Federal General Election turnout of voters 17.8 Percentage of youth in the Learn and Serve America grants.3 under the age of 30.1 total U.S. population.1 43 Investment in 2005-2006 Learn and 41 Percentage of former service-learning Serve programs in millions of dollars.3 youths (ages 18-29) who voted in a local, state, or national election.7 Campus Compact member colleges 1,045 4:1 Monetary value of service provided by Learn 5 or universities. and Serve participants to their communities, 57 Percentage of former service-learning compared to Learn and Serve money spent.4 youths (ages 18-29) who report that voting Service hours in millions logged by 2005-2006 377 7 5 in elections is important. Campus Compact participants. 86 Percentage of U.S. principals who reported that service-learning has a positive impact 92 Percentage of principals from U.S. schools 7.1 Monetary value in billions of dollars on the larger community’s view of youths with service-learning programs who reported of service performed annually by as resources.2 that service-learning has a positive impact Campus Compact participants.5 on students’ civic engagement.2 83 Percentage of U.S. principals who reported 55 Percentage of U.S. residents who support that service-learning has a positive impact on Percentage of U.S. youths ages 8-21 increasing federal funding for national 94 academic achievement.2 who report that they want to be involved service programs including AmeriCorps, VISTA, in making the world a better place.8 and Peace Corps. (30 percent oppose.)6 1 The number of people it takes to make a change in the world. 1 Census Bureau Population Estimates for July 1, 2006. 2 Scales, P., and Roehlkepartain, E. (2004). Community Service and Service-Learning in Public Schools, 2004: Findings from a National Survey. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council. 3 Learn and Serve America. (2006). Learn and Serve America Performance Report for Program Year 2005-2006. 4 Melchior, A. (1999). Summary Report: National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America. Center for Human Resources, Brandeis University. Learn and Serve America provides federal funding for service-learning. 5 Campus Compact. (2007). Service Statistics: Highlights and Trends of Campus Compact’s Annual Membership Survey. Available at http://www.compact.org/about/statistics/2006/service_statistics.pdf. 6 Harris Interactive Online. January 11–18, 2007 among adults, n=2,337. Available at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=733 7 Martin, S., Neal, M., Kielsmeier, J., and Crossley, A. (2006). The Impact of Service-Learning on Transitions to Adulthood. Growing to Greatness 2006. St. Paul: NYLC. 8 America’s Promise Alliance. (2006). Every Child, Every Promise: Turning Failure into Action. Alexandria, VA: America’s Promise: The Alliance for Youth. Growing to Greatness 2008 THE STATE OF SERVICE-LEARNING PROJECT A report from the National Youth Leadership Council JAMES C. KIELSMEIER, PH.D., PROGRAM DIRECTOR MARYBETH NEAL, PH.D., RESEARCH DIRECTOR NATHAN SCHULTZ, RESEARCH ASSISTANT THOMAS J. LEEPER, RESEARCH ASSISTANT Copyright © 2008 by National Youth Leadership Council All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Unless otherwise noted, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations or critical reviews. ISBN 0-9793033-2-X ISBN 13 978-0-9793033-2-6 The views expressed in each article contained in Growing to Greatness are solely the views of the author or authors of each article and do not necessarily represent those of the National Youth Leadership Council or the other authors in the collection. Permission is granted for individual readers, parents, teachers, and group leaders to photocopy pages for personal, home, classroom, or group work with the following citation: Growing to Greatness 2008: © National Youth Leadership Council. www.nylc.org. Header and cover photographs courtesy of Bruce Silcox: www.brucesilcoxphotography.com. Cover photo: Participants from the youth group NFL-YET Across America help restore one of the oldest surviving mission churches in New Mexico by making bricks at the 2007 National Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque. All other photos used by permission. Additional Growing to Greatness information is available at www.nylc.org/g2g. Serve. Learn. Change the world.® 1667 Snelling Avenue North | Saint Paul, MN 55108 | (651) 999-7357 | www.nylc.org Growing to Greatness 2008 iv Editorial Board 46 Altruism in Children: Consumer Behavior E verybody and Responsible Business Practices v Acknowledgments Suzanne Martin, Just Kid, Inc. Marybeth Neal, NYLC can be great, 56 Middle School Youths as Problem-Solvers vi Letter from State Farm Theresa K. Sullivan, University of Minnesota Kathy Payne, State Farm because 66 Service-Learning in Latin America: Past and Present 1 Introduction María Nieves Tapia, CLAYSS James C. Kielsmeier, NYLC everybody 77 Policy Matters 4 Service-Learning and the Five Promises Alma Powell and Marguerite Kondracke, 78 Persistent Voice, Continuing Vision: can serve. America’s Promise Alliance 25 Years of the National Youth Leadership Council Stina Kielsmeier, NYLC 8 K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice 84 Supporting Service-Learning through Policy – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Shelley H. Billig, RMC Research Corporation Jon Schroeder, Education|Evolving February 4, 1968, sermon at the and Wokie Weah, NYLC Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta 88 Service-Learning and the National 16 Scope, Scale, and Impacts of Service-Learning: Education Debate The Challenges of Measurement Peter Levine, CIRCLE Dana Markow, Harris Interactive and Marybeth Neal, NYLC 98 Service-Learning in the United States: Recent Policy Developments 26 Service-Learning Dissertations Thomas J. Leeper, NYLC and Theses, 2004-2006 Liberty Smith and Heather J. Martin, NSLC 102 State Profiles Nathan Schultz, NYLC 36 A Three-Year Evaluation of Learn and Serve America Grantees 152 Learn and Serve Funding Kimberly Spring, CNCS 153 Glossary Editorial Board 2008 Larry Bailis Teddy Gross Brandeis University Common Cents New York Shelley Billig Joe Herrity RMC Research Corporation Iowa Department of Education Nelda Brown Don Hill National Service-Learning Partnership Youth Service California Rich Cairn Kathy Hill Cairn and Associates Ohio State University Amy Cohen Barbara Holland Corporation for National and Community Service National Service-Learning Clearinghouse Marty Duckenfield Michelle Kamenov National Dropout Prevention Center Minnesota Department of Education Joe Follman Suzanne Martin Florida State University Just Kid, Inc. Andy Furco Sarah Pearson University of Minnesota Independent Consultant Silvia Golombek Rob Shumer Youth Service America University of Minnesota Acknowledgments Writing the acknowledgments to this, the The Corporation for National and Community Wegner, communications director; Caryn sixth issue of Growing to Greatness: The State Service staff helped in many important ways: Pernu, managing editor; and Vicky Goplin, of Service-Learning, cannot fully capture the Liberty Smith of the National Service-Learning editorial consultant, all gave generously of wonderful adventure in learning nor the Clearinghouse with the creation of the their time and talents. Jacqueline Heap, depth of gratitude to those who helped us glossary; Kimberly Spring and Nathan Dietz, executive assistant, provided exceptional along the way. We are especially grateful to CNCS researchers with questions involving the translation of María Nieves Tapia’s contribu- State Farm Companies Foundation for their interpretation of data; Elson Nash, who tion; Cynthia Reitzel gave valuable assistance continuing investment in this important work. generously provided data for this volume; and in plumbing the richness of the National Tracey Seabolt and Amy Cohen with arrange- Youth Leadership database; and NYLC Project Thank you to all our authors for their contribu- ments for the Advanced Strategy Lab. Ignition Coordinator Michael Van Keulan tions, to the organizations they represent, and thoughtfully reviewed articles. to the people who make their work possible. It was both an honor and an inspiration to Randy Horick and Patti Reilly of America’s develop the state profiles in consultation We feel very fortunate this year to have Promise Alliance; Jennifer Piscatelli and Terry with the State Educational Agency staff and enlarged our circle of people and organiza- Pickeral of the Education Commission of the to interview service-learning program tions interested in documenting the scale, of States; and Rob Shumer offered valuable leaders who provided the accompanying scope, and impacts of service-learning. We insights in shaping and reviewing articles. state project examples. are all enriched by their company and look forward to including