Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

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CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 7Service-learning projects, of course, vary in their contributionto developing the democratic citizen. Thomas Martinand Scott Richardson, in their essay “Making Citizens Outof Students,” observe: “Too many service-learning projectsoften come in the form of short, one-day activities likecleaning up a park. Instead of ending a project when thepark is clean, teachers should encourage students toaddress a public policy or community practice that wouldkeep the park clean for the long term.” 27 Students at onemiddle school, Martin and Richardson say, did just that.After cleaning up the park, a 6th-grade class worked withthe city council to improve park maintenance. Their effortsensured that the park would be a clean community resourcewell into the future. The students also conducted an educationalcampaign at area schools that resulted in a significantdecrease in vandalism and litter at the park. Studentswalked away from the experience understanding how tointeract with their elected officials and shape public policy. 28Service-learning projects should work toinfluence a public policy or communitypractice that has long-term benefits.Lessons from a National Service-LearningLeader SchoolWe visited a small high school that had won a NationalService-Learning Leader School award (www.leaderschools.org).The school’s dropout rate is zero. On arecent state Assessment of Academic Skills, students hadearned scores in the 97th percentile in reading, writing,and math. In addition to mastery learning, service-learningis at the core of the school’s program. The box atright describes the major components of its service-learningprogram.The service-learning facilitator at this school told us:What’s distinctive about our Senior Exhibition is that itmust have moral content. We ask students to select asocial-moral problem they care about and ask, ‘”What canwe really do?”Last year a group of girls did their project on “Rape andIts Cultural Roots.” They were galvanized when they foundout that every year more than 100,000 rapes are notprosecuted because the victims can’t afford to pay the$500 for forensic processing of the DNA gatheredthrough rape kits. The students created a press release tosend to the media during Sexual Assault Awareness MonthCOMPONENTS OF AN AWARD-WINNINGSERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMWednesday service-learning. Each Wednesday morning,beginning in the freshman year, students spendtwo hours working at one of 40 community sites,including elementary schools, veterinary clinics, andretirement homes.Quality control. The service-learning facilitator and tenparent volunteers visit the service-learning sites to talkwith the students and supervisory personnel. Throughthese contacts, they identify relationship problems,lapses in student responsibility, lack of meaningfulwork for students, etc. This close monitoring of thesites nips problems in the bud and ensures a highlevel of quality in the service experience.Global Issues course. In the fall semester of the senioryear, students take a Global Issues course aimed athelping them understand the complexity of socialmoral-politicalissues (world hunger, war, foreign aid,economic issues), consider the role of the UnitedStates in such issues, learn options for civic and politicalaction, and apply ethical frameworks in evaluatingalternative responses to these issues. During thissemester, they begin to think about an issue they wishto pursue more deeply in their final semester.Senior Seminar. In the spring semester of the senioryear, students take a culminating course that has themwork with an advisor, independently and as a team,doing in-depth research on a social issue of theirchoosing and preparing an action plan. They thenimplement and evaluate their action plan and presenttheir findings in a formal public Senior Exhibition (followingthe format used by the Coalition of EssentialSchools, www.essentialschools.org).in April and lobbied state legislators and congressional leadersurging them to support the funding of DNA processingof rape kits.What Students Say About Service-LearningWe interviewed students at their Wednesday morningservice-learning sites and asked them how the experiencehad affected them. The following responses were typical:Girl: We work with the elderly. We’re learning socialskills and multi-tasking—what you need to be able to do184Smart & Good High Schools
CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 7as adults.Boy: I used to have anxiety about working with people. Service-learninggets you out of your school and into the realworld.Girl: I was a follower more than a leader, which I am now.The first day, when we had to lead tours [of a state parkexhibit], I didn’t think I could do it. My knees were shaking.Now, I’m designing tours myself.Boy: They kicked me out of service-learning for four monthsof my freshman year. I did some pretty bad stuff. I had toget my act together and learn to control myself.We also met with a focus group of the volunteer parentswho helped to monitor the service-learning sites. Onemother said:It helps them find their direction in life. My son had beenthinking of becoming an engineer. As a result of working ina 4th-grade classroom, he wants to be a teacher. Some kidsdecide that they don’t want to be a teacher.One mother said, “Because of servicelearning,our son is no longer afraid of life.”Another mother said:Our son has always been very introverted. Through his service-learning,he’s grown tremendously in his confidence. He’smuch better at talking with people and speaks about howhe’s learned to meet people. We talk more at home. He’sno longer afraid of life.The accompanying box lists ten principles of best practicein service-learning—guidelines that help to ensure a highqualityexperience.QUALITY SERVICE-LEARNING . . .1. Engages people in responsible and challengingactions for the common good.2. Provides structured opportunities for people toreflect critically on their service experiences.3. Articulates clear service and learning goals foreveryone involved.4. Allows all participants to define their needs.5. Clarifies the responsibilities of each person andorganization involved.6. Matches service providers and service needsthrough a process that recognizes changing circumstances.7. Expects genuine, active, and sustained organizationalcommitment.8. Includes training, supervision, monitoring, support,recognition, and evaluation to meet service andlearning goals.9. Ensures that the time commitment for service andlearning is flexible, appropriate, and in the bestinterest of all involved.10. Is committed to program participation by diversepopulations. 29185Smart & Good High Schools
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A Report to the NationSmart & GoodH
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A wonderful piece of work that addr
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Dedicated to the memory ofWinifred
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AcknowledgementsWe would like to ex
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Table of ContentsLetter to the Read
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ELC PRINCIPLE 4: TAKE PERSONAL RESP
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1. Develop Critical Friends Groups
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Letter to The Reader“Are you a he
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Letter to the ReaderBut we also do
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How to Read This Reporttices relate
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Patrick Bassett, president, Nationa
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Research Methodologyand Criteria fo
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Research Methodology and Criteria f
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Principles of a Smart & Good High S
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CHAPTER 1The Call to Character:Perf
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est work and be their best ethical
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CHAPTER 1: The Call to Charactercha
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CHAPTER 1: The Call to Charactertin
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CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterA S
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CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterBec
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CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterTHE
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1C. Peterson & M. P. Seligman, Char
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CHAPTER 2: Performance Character an
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Smart & Good High SchoolsCHAPTER 2:
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do not self-identify as “characte
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EndnotesCHAPTER 2: Performance Char
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CHAPTER 3: The Ethical Learning Com
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Galvanized by this finding, she and
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(1) scheduling a weekend retreat in
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person has gifts; and the convictio
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CHAPTER 4The Professional Ethical L
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on at home. If I think something se
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Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

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