Back to State of Education Address - February 6, 2007
Service Learning in California Public Schools
"Successful schools all over our state are using a variety of strategies to deliver character education in their curriculum, on the playground, and even on their schoolhouse walls. They are combining academic standards with service learning in projects that teach the value of giving back and the importance of engaging in the broader community."
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell
Service-learning is an instructional strategy whereby students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of the community. Service-learning engages students in community service linked to school curriculum as a strategy to improve learning, help students become good citizens, and advance their personal and social development. Service-learning goals also include the promotion of school reform and the provision of needed services to communities.
Key Elements of Service-Learning
Service-learning, as defined by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, is "an innovative instructional strategy that actively involves youth in the curriculum through service to their community." Service-learning differs from traditional community service activities in that it intentionally integrates the service experience with the curriculum.
Service-learning requires students' participation in organized service that is coordinated with an elementary school, middle school, or high school and the community. In addition to fostering civic responsibility and individual development, service-learning allows students to gain a deeper understanding of the curriculum through their participation in the design and implementation of a service-learning project and through their reflection on the experience.
Service-learning can be incorporated into all disciplines, and it provides a strategy to integrate curriculum across the content areas. The following five key elements of service-learning address what students should know and be able to do as a result of their participation in a service-learning activity or project. All five elements should be present in every service-learning activity and should work in concert to create powerful teaching and learning experiences. The service-learning experience should:
- Meet a real community need;
- Be integrated into and enhance the curriculum;
- Coordinate with a community agency, another school, or the community at large;
- Help foster civic responsibility; and
- Provide structured time for reflection
The CalServe Initiative
Service-learning typically relies on partnerships between schools and public or non-profit agencies that provide service opportunities for students in the community. In California, grants to K-12 service-learning partnerships are made through the CalServe Initiative of the California Department of Education (CDE). The Initiative is funded by the federal Learn and Serve America Program, which was created by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. Under this Act, federal funds are allocated to state education agencies for awards to local service-learning partnerships and for state-level capacity-building. Since the CalServe Initiative began in 1992, the CDE has funded some 40 service-learning partnerships throughout the state. Through the CalServe Initiative, the CDE provides direct funding assistance to school-community partnerships and 12 Regional Leads [http://www.yscal.org/services/regionalsll.html] (Outside Source) that involve more than 120,000 students and 15,000 community volunteers in urban, rural, and suburban communities throughout the state.
For more information about service learning, go to the CDE Web site at: Service-Learning. For more resources on service learning, please visit: Service-Learning.
