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

Since the inception of the Corporation for National Service’s K-12 Learn and Serve program, thousands of teachers and
students have received grants to facilitate the engagement of young people in meaningful service activities as part of the academic
experience. The impetus of this funding, particularly among those schools which have received consistent funding over a period of
three years or more, is to catalyze the permanent infusion of service-learning as an instructional method in these schools and districts.
As such, the primary question of this research is “Has this proven to be true?”
To determine this, three questions have formed the basis of this research:
(1) What strategies have the states, districts, and schools used to institutionalize service-learning?
(2) What combinations of approaches seem to work most effectively towards this end?
(3) How can educators and decision-makers facilitate the institutionalization process?
Need for the Research
While few educators and citizens doubt the positive impact of service on students and communities, this particular stream of
national service distinguishes itself from the others because it is attempting to act as a method of educational reform rather than a
stand-alone program. Service-learning is intended to become a standardized teaching and learning practice, which if achieved would
reduce its dependency on federal or other dollars and facilitate the transformation of the entire educational system so that service is as
an integral part of the K-12 academic experience.
Despite this lofty goal, there has been little evidence gathered on a national scale about the progress being made towards this
end. It is therefore important to understand how Learn and Serve has acted as a catalyst for institutional change. While a few schools
and districts have been highlighted by experts and the Corporation as examples of excellent service-learning practice, there has long
been a need to get a more complete understanding of how this may or may not be occurring throughout the country, in states which
clearly support service-learning and in states with limited support and resources dedicated to it.
Considering that states, districts, and schools often have unique political circumstances, it was important to understand the
innovative approaches people have taken to build capacity and support for service-learning. While some of the states - perhaps 10 - are
known on a national level to be making strides in this area, most states have not publicized their commitment to institutionalization.
As such, it was important to identify their methods, particularly in the “quieter” states which are not often in the limelight; perhaps
these states have innovative approaches not found in states with more substantial resources. Regardless, bringing all approaches into
the open is necessary to show ideas that have worked, so that they may be replicated nationally.
There has been increasing interest in sustaining service-learning over the past few years in particular. Now that there are
successful models that showcase outstanding practice and impacts on students, more and more educators and policy makers are
convinced that service-learning is a pedagogy worth supporting. Yet they don’t know exactly how to support it. As such, it has been
essential to clarify the various approaches taken, so that people can formulate a design process within their school, district, and state
that assists in institutionalizing service-learning. Many educators have found success with one or two strategies in particular, but
because the educational system is complex, it has been important to look at all strategies in the framework of a whole system. For if
Learn and Serve funding ever decreases or disappears altogether, the states which have developed and implemented a holistic process
of institutionalizing service-learning are far more likely to see it infused into their education system. One strategy may not lead to
success, but the right combination of approaches, taken from a large menu of options, may prove valuable for planners and educators.
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