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Fact Sheets

  • AmeriCorps and Service-Learning 101
    Source: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, June 2009. This fact sheet introduces core information about service-learning to AmeriCorps members working in educational settings and looking to enhance their experience of learning through service, and...
  • AmeriCorps, Service-Learning, and Community: Working to Address Community Needs and Strengths
    Source: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, June 2009. This fact sheet introduces community assessment to AmeriCorps members working in educational settings and looking to enhance their experience of learning through service, and for anyone...
  • Benefits of Community-Based Service-Learning
    Source: Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Search Institute, December 2007. Thousands of community-based organizations engage millions of young people in service and service-learning. Though research in K-12 and higher education settings shows a wide range of...
  • Beyond Needs Assessments: Identifying a Community's Resources and Hopes
    Source: Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, September 2008. This fact sheet discusses the importance of and ways of determining what a community has, wants, and hopes before conducting a service-learning project. Fifteen young people in the service-learning...
  • Building Effective Partnerships in Service-Learning
    Source: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2008. Effective partnerships between agencies, schools, colleges or universities, businesses, government, and residents for the benefits of the community are a vital part of youth service in America....
  • Character Education and Service-Learning
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, September 2006 How Does Current Research in Character Education Support Service-Learning? Research conducted by RMC Research Corporation (2005) found that students who participated in the Partnerships in Character...
  • Charter Schools (K-12)
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, Denver, CO, May 2004Charter schools are public schools created as an alternative to traditional public schools. They operate free from many traditional district and state rules regarding curriculum, hiring practices, and...
  • Chemistry and Service-Learning in Higher Education
    Source: Rachel L. Vaughn, Sarena D. Seifer, and Tanis Vye Mihalynuk, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, May 2004 Service-learning in the chemistry curriculum provides a rich opportunity for students to learn while contributing to their...
  • Citizenship and Service-Learning in K-12 Schools
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, January 2003 Updated: May 2005 and April 2007 Introduction "Serving others is not just a form of do-goodism or feel-goodism, it is a road to social responsibility and citizenship. When linked closely to...
  • Civics in K-12 Education
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, Denver, CO, May 2004Recent surveys raise concerns about the decline of civic education and the willingness of young people to assume active citizenship roles (Keeter, Zukin, Andolina, & Jenkins, 2002; National...
  • Democratic Classrooms
    Source: RMC Corporation, Denver, CO, May 2004 Democratic classrooms are those in which the curriculum actively engages students in collaborative inquiry decision making is shared between students and staff and students choose their daily activities....
  • Developing Partnerships for Service-Learning: Starting Points for Community-Based Organizations
    Source: Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Search Institute and Lawrence N. Bailis, Associate Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, December 2007 Forming partnerships is key to effective service-learning. Schools, youth...
  • Developing Service-Learning Scholarship: Actions and Issues to Consider
    Source: Sarena D. Seifer, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, July 2002 Acknowledgments: In preparing this fact sheet, we would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of the UCLA Service-Learning Clearinghouse website (Archive) and the...
  • Developmental Assets: A Framework for Enriching Service-Learning
    Source: Eugene C. Roehlkepartain and Peter C. Scales, Ph.D., Search Institute, December 2007 You can strengthen service-learning and improve developmental outcomes for young people by intentionally integrating positive youth development (PYD)...
  • Discipline-Specific Service-Learning Resources for Higher Education
    Source: Sarena D. Seifer, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, March 2002. Updated: Cheryl Whitney-Lower, Vermont Campus Compact, September 2009Available Discipline-Specific Service-Learning Resources in Higher EducationThere are a number of...
  • Dropout Prevention and Service-Learning
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, October 2008 In 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that 5.2 million young people, aged 16-24, had not completed high school, were unemployed, and were not serving in the military. These "disconnected"...
  • Engaging Families in Service: Broadening Service-Learning's Reach, Impact, and Support
    Source: Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Search Institute, and Jenny Friedman, Doing Good Together, March 2009"Can you imagine anything more energizing, more unifying, more filled with satisfaction than working with members of your family to accomplish...
  • Engineering Education and Service-Learning
    Source: Rachel L. Vaughn and Sarena D. Seifer, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, June 2004Service-Learning in engineering education is gaining ground throughout the country and throughout the variety of disciplinary focuses within engineering...
  • Funding for K-12 Service-Learning Programs
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, Denver, CO, July 2004, Updated July 2008 Service-learning programs can be funded in several basic ways, including through Learn and Serve subgrants, foundation funding, and fundraising. Ideally, funds for school-based...
  • Higher Education Service-Learning in Rural Communities
    Source: Tanis V. Mihalynuk, Sarena D. Seifer and Community Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH), August 2007 Service learning can provide significant benefits to students, faculty and communities, whether it occurs in rural, urban or suburban settings...
  • History of Service-Learning in Higher Education
    Source: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, January 2008 Service and Service-Learning on Colleges and University Campuses Community service and civic engagement have a long history on American campuses beginning in the 19th century and finding...
  • Homeland Security and K-12 Service-Learning
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, April 2006This fact sheet addresses K-12 service-learning activities that are focused on homeland security. Background information is presented first, followed by a sample of project descriptions intended to provide a...
  • Impacts of Service-Learning on Participating K-12 Students
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, December 2002 Updated May 2007The studies summarized below build on the research outlined in Billig's May 2000 article in Phi Delta Kappan and subsequent research updates from RMC Research in 2001 and 2005.Academic...
  • Improving Outcomes for K-12 Service-Learning Participants
    Source: RMC Research Corporation, May 2007 Several new studies have recently been completed that illuminate the characteristics of service-learning practice most closely associated with student outcomes. These studies, conducted with different populations...
  • Institutional Structures for Service-Learning in Higher Education
    Source: Sarena D. Seifer, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, May 2002; updated by Pam Mutascio and Julie Plaut, Campus Compact, September 2008.Institutional structuresAs service-learning in higher education becomes more prevalent, colleges and...