Administrator's Service-Learning Tools

21st Century Skills and the Connection to Service-Learning

Wisconsin has recently joined the Partnership for 21st Century Skills to ensure that the Wisconsin PK-16 educational system prepares students with the knowledge and skills needed for the 21st century workforce. Service-learning provides an instructional methodology that will provide students with experiences that bring these skills to life through the application of knowledge and skills in addressing community issues. For a list of the six key elements of 21st century learning, see the Educating for the 21st Century report.

Research

Websites

Using Research Knowledge to Advance District-wide Service-Learning
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pub_distlessons3

The Impact of Participation of Service-Learning on High School Students’ Civic Engagement
http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP33Billig.pdf
This CIRCLE study, conducted by Shelley Billig, Sue Root, and Dan Jesse, sought to estimate the effects of service-learning as compared to more traditional ways of teaching similar subject areas.

Research Matters
http://servicelearning.org/static/link/pages/1320.htm
Shelley Billig discusses the state and future of service-learning research and what it says about the impacts and effects of service-learning.

Impacts of Service-Learning on Participating K-12 Students
http://www.servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts The 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.

National Service-Learning Partnership
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/PageServer
This site provides links to a wide body of literature containing research on service-learning.

Publications

Furco, A. and Billig, S.H., Eds., Service-Learning: The Essence of the Pedagogy. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 2002.

Furco, A. Service-learning in teacher education: An overview of the research. (with Susan Root). In Anderson, J. and Swick, K. Eds., Strengthening Service and Learning in Teacher Education. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education, 2001.

Furco, A. Service-learning as education reform. In Gulati-Partee, G. & Finger, W., Eds., Critical Issues in K-12 Service-Learning. Raleigh: National Society for Experiential Education, 137-143, 1996. Furco, A. Service-learning: a balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning. Washington, DC: Corporation for National Service, 2-6, 1996.

Sample Policies

The Service-Learning Policy Toolkit
http://www.learningindeed.org/policy/toolkit_books1-3.pdf

Learning In Deed
http://www.learningindeed.org/policy
An overview of policy changes to support service-learning.

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
http://www.servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/policy
Policy resources compiled by the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

Education Commission of the States
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/ProjectsPartners/nclc/nclc_main.htm
National Center for Learning and Citizenship resources related to service-learning and policy development.

Implementation Tools

Quality and Sustainability Index
http://www.slqualityindex.com
This database offers a self-assessment tool to determine the status of programs at the local, state, and federal levels, and plan professional development services.

Wave Action Team Implementation Guide
This guide provides educators with a structure for planning a service-learning project that is meaningfully immersed into the classroom curriculum. Tools include a curriculum planning template on pages 13-26 (pdf pages 22-34) and a student project planning form on pages 22-26 (pdf pages 31-34).

Quality Assessment Rubric
Reflect on the quality of service-learning practice in local projects. This rubric is based research conducted by Shelley Billig on the elements that must be present in high quality service-learning projects to achieve maximum impact on students.

Powerpoint Presentations
Developed by Greendale School District.
Greendale Service-Learning History
Spring 2006 Greendale Service-Learning Overview

Building Coordinator Application
Application developed by Amy Keliher, Slinger School District.

For questions about this information, contact Theresa L. Dary (608) 261-7494

Last updated on 2/25/2008 9:08:06 AM