Interesting article from the Center for American Progress on the impact of service learning programs, entitled “Making the Most Out of Service.” The whole article is worth a read, here’s an excerpt.
Although a growing body of research has documented the benefits of service learning, which include greater academic engagement, civic behaviors, and personal responsibility, most students don’t have this opportunity. Disadvantaged youth in particular are significantly less likely to engage in service. For middle school students, service learning is a particularly potent way to help them connect what they learn in school to important life goals—a key to reducing the dropout rate.
(For more information about service learning as a key to reducing the dropout rate, check out America’s Promise Alliance.)
As Congress reauthorizes the National and Community Service Act, it should expand support for service learning by reexamining Learn and Serve and creating new funds that will allow federal dollars to be leveraged for service more strategically. Most Learn and Serve America dollars are allocated by formula to state educational agencies, a policy put in place in 1990 with the view that the program would grow in size and that a formula allocation would ensure that every state built expertise in service learning within its education agency. Unfortunately, most states get about $200,000 from Learn and Serve America and make grants of less than $20,000.
