MAKE IT LAST FOREVER: THE ... - National Service Resource Center

Partnerships:
IMPORTANT STRATEGIES
Policy:
Building Personnel:
Project Evaluation:
Student Assessment:
Philosophy/Mission:
Youth Leadership:
and community/business sponsorships. People should also explore doing service-learning without any
money at all.
Service-learning should be linked to numerous educational, community, and government
initiatives such as dropout prevention, community coalitions, and AmeriCorps. Regional advisory
boards comprised of these and such other stakeholders as students, colleges, and businesses, can help to
build support for and promote service-learning.
Schools, districts, state boards of education, and legislators should consider endorsing service-learning
(as opposed to community service) policies which either encourage or require students and teachers to
be engaged in service experiences that are connected to academic curricula. Policies should focus on
providing regular opportunities at all educational levels rather than hours of service to be performed in
order to graduate.
School coordinators should be full-time and paid a salary, though some current teachers are able to
coordinate logistical activity with a reduced teaching load or in their spare time. Work-study college
students, senior citizens, and VISTA and AmeriCorps members should also be considered for such
positions. Each school should have a steering committee with broad representation.
Time should be afforded for teachers and students in particular to evaluate all aspects of project design,
implementation, and impact. Independent evaluators can also be useful in assessing the impact of
projects on recipients, schools, and communities. This information should be used to inform continuous
improvement measures.
Service-learning initiatives should include formal ongoing measures for assessing student performance
in service-learning experiences. Students should participate in setting the performance standards, and
this information should be provided to parents on report cards or portfolios. Tests should also be given
to encourage students to articulate the meaning of their service-learning experiences.
Every school, district, and state board of education should adopt a formal written policy that articulates
the importance of service-learning as an instructional strategy that meets student, school, and
community needs. The statement should facilitate the development of annual school and district
educational goals which embody the mission, and educational leaders should reinforce the importance of
the service philosophy among students and colleagues and in public presentations and the media.
Students at all levels and of all abilities should be involved in all aspects of service-learning project
design, implementation, and evaluation, particularly to have control over the content of the projects.
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