The State of ServiceLearning: What the Research Says

1
The State of Service-Learning What the Research
Says

• Shelley H. Billig, Ph.D.
• RMC Research, Denver

2
Overview

• Service-Learning Profile Who, What, When, Where,
  and Why
• Theoretical Foundations
• Impacts
• Quality as a predictor of outcomes
• Questions and answers

3
Prevalence Who? (Kielsmeier, Scales,
Roehlkepartain Neal)

• 69 of schools and about 15 million students
  engage in community service
• 30 of K-12 public schools engage students in
  service-learning, reaching about 4.5 million
  students
• More is offered in schools with higher income
  students 36 v. 29

4
Character of Service-Learning What?

• Most have one time events (80) or events that
  last less than a month (76)
• In 36, students engage in service-learning
  planning
• 73 hours per year per student in service and
• 15 have a part-time service-learning coordinator
  while 9 have a full time coordinator.

5
Not expensive! (Melchior, 2001)

• Cost is small about 54 per student, ranges
  from 20 to 1150 per student.

6
Why Service-Learning? Teachers Reasons
7
Principals Views (Kielsmeier, Scales,
Roehlkepartain Neal, 2004)

• Civic engagement and personal/social development
  was most important for most.
• Academic engagement and performance was most
  important for those in higher poverty schools.

8
Service-Learning and Academic Achievement

• Results from
• Michigan Learn and Serve
• Need in Deed
• CO-SEED
• Others

9
Results for Michigan School Engagement

• Elementary school children
• Service-learning participants had significantly
  higher scores on cognitive engagement after
  controlling for gender and grade level (group
  effect.21, t3.72,df38, plt.01) e.g. I talk
  with people outside of school about what I am
  learning in class and I am interested in the
  projects we do in school.

10
Results for School Engagement

• Service-learning participants had higher scores
  than the comparison groups in English/language
  arts engagement after controlling for gender,
  prior experience with service, and grade level
  (Group effects.23, t2.26, df26, plt.05) (I
  really pay attention to classwork, I try as
  hard as I can and I find myself concentrating
  so hard that time passes quickly.)

11
Results on the Michigan State Assessment (MEAP)

• Fifth grade students who participated in
  service-learning outperformed (plt.05 level)
  comparison students on
• Writing
• Total social studies
• Three social studies strands
• Using Earth Science
• Historical Perspective
• Inquiry and Decision Making
• Students in grades 7 and 8 showed no differences
  on the MEAP by participation in service-learning

12
Study of Philadelphia Need in Deed
Service-Learning Programs

• Matched comparison groups on a standardized test
  (TerraNova).
• Sixth grade students in SL had statistically
  significantly higher test scores in language arts
  and science.
• No difference for fourth and eighth grade.
• Qualitative data suggest content and quality
  mattered.

13
New England CO-SEED

• Four sites in three states (NH, VT, MA). Scores
  on state tests compared year to year for the same
  students.
• NH 6th grade SL students had statistically
  significant higher scores on state assessment in
  language arts, math, science, and social studies
  than district average gain.
• VT 6th grade students had slightly higher scores
  in reading and 2nd grade students had
  significantly higher scores on reading and word
  analysis.
• 3rd grade students showed no differences.

14
WHY DOES SERVICE-LEARNING WORK?

• National Research Council How People Learn
• Brain-based Research
• Effect Size Literature

15
Creating a Climate for Learning
Safe
High Challenge
Low Threat
Nurturing
Inclusive
Encourages Risk-taking
Multi-sensory
Stimulating
Collaborative
16
How People LearnNational Research Council.
(1999).

• Six findings in How People Learn from NRC.

17
Research Finding 1

• Understanding is more than knowing facts.

18
Research Finding 2

• Students build new knowledge and understanding
  on what they already know and believe.

Knowledge
19
Research Finding 3

• Students formulate new knowledge by modifying
  and refining their current concepts and by adding
  new concepts to what they already know.

Knowledge
New Knowledge
20
Research Finding 4

• Learning is mediated by the social environment
  in which learners interact with others.

21
Research Finding 5

• Effective learning requires that students take
  control of their own learning.

22
Research Finding 6

• The ability to apply knowledge to novel
  situations, that is, transfer of learning, is
  affected by the degree to which students learn
  with understanding.

23
Memory is a ProcessPat Wolfe. (2001).
Rehearsal
Sight
Sound
Elaboration Organization
Sensory Memory
Long-Term Memory
Working Memory
Smell
Initial Processing
Retrieval
Taste
Touch
Forgotten
Forgotten
24
Research-based StrategiesEffect Sizes and
AchievementMarzano, et al. (2001).
25
Service-Learning and Citizenship

• Serving others is not just a form of do-goodism,
  it is a road to social responsibility and
  citizenship. When linked closely to classroom
  learningit is an ideal setting for bridging the
  gap between the classroom and the streetIn
  serving the community, the young forge
  commonality in acknowledging difference, they
  bridge division and in assuming individual
  responsibility, they nurture social citizenship.
• Benjamin Barber (1998 10-12)

26
Indicators of Disengagement

• Voting is down only 38 of 18-25 year olds
  voted in 2000
• Political party identification is down from 75
  in 1960 to 65 in 1990
• Keeping up with public affairs is down freshmen
  entering UCLA down from 60 in 1966 to 28 in
  2000
• Only 25 of students scored at the proficient or
  advanced levels on the NAEP civics assessment
• These declines in participation appear all along
  the spectrum from hyperactivists to political
  slugs (Putnam, 200046)

27
Theories

• Civic identity family and other socialization
  experiences
• Social capital networks and affiliation
• Generational the Millennials

28
Generational TheoryMillennials- Who Are They?

• The first, tough, cranky, pragmatic, independent
  Generation Xers are gonna start hitting 40 in the
  next couple of years, and rearing up behind them
  are the Millennials, the first batch of which are
  the high school class of 2000. These kids are,
  as a group, pleasant, cheerful, helpful,
  ambitious, and community-oriented.
• MaryAnn Johnson, film critic,
  flickfilosopher.com

29
What are they like?

• According to Millennials Rising (Howe and
  Strauss, 2000), they are
• Optimists
• Cooperative team players
• Accept authority
• Follow rules
• Are the most watched in many generations
• Believe in the future kids who are going to
  change things

30
History shapes generations

• To identify a persona of a generation, look for
  three attributes
• Perceived membership in a common generation
• Common beliefs and behaviors
• Common location in history.

31
One generational theory states that each
generation

• Solves a problem facing the prior youth
  generation, whose style has become dysfunctional
  in the new era
• Corrects for the behavioral excess it perceives
  in the current midlife generation and
• Fills the social role being vacated by the
  departing elder generation.
• (Howe and Strauss, 2000)

32
Generational Challenges That Millennials Will
Tackle? (Howe and Strauss, 2000)

• Cultural exhaustion and civic decay
• Focus on talk over action
• Focus on individuals rather than the group or
  society.

33
Service-Learning and Civic Engagement

• Quick review of three studies conducted by RMC
  Research over the past two years
• Freedom Schools Junior Leader Project
  (Philadelphia)
• Hawaiian Studies Program (Hawaii)
• Colorado Learn and Serve

34
Hawaii Service-Learning Students Attitudes
Toward Community
RMC Research, Denver Note p lt .05
35
Hawaii Study Students Civic Attitudes
CREDE Evaluation Report Note p lt .05
36
Colorado Learn and Serve Results
37
Colorado Learn and Serve Results
38
Lots of Other Positive Outcomes

• Sense of efficacy
• Trust for adults
• Resilience and avoidance of risk behaviors
• Ethic of service and volunteerism
• Respect for diversity

39
Program Quality Indicators as Moderators of
Engagement

• Two quality variables served as the greatest
  predictors in Michigan
• Communication and interaction with the community
  and
• Linkage with curriculum frameworks.
• For younger students, all but one of the program
  quality variables (duration) had statistically
  significant relationships to outcomes.

40
Quality Mattered

• Having Essential Elements and other quality
  indicators in place made the difference in
• National study of service-learning for CNCS
• Colorado service-learning
• Michigan service-learning (but not all).

41
Summary

• Service-learning is a promising value added
  approach to teaching and learning that has
  potential for increasing academic achievement,
  civic engagement, and character/social emotional
  learning.
• Quality matters will need professional
  development, link to standards, direct contact
  with community, others.