What does the development of a young person's political agency look like, and what role can schools play in this process? The authors profile Blackstone Academy, where administrators integrate social activism, community service, and other service-learning projects into the curriculum to help students develop leadership skills and confidence. The…

This study, conducted in a Business/Technology course in a large public high school in Southeastern USA, Fall Semester, 2014, supports the use of Service-Learning in the schools for empowering students to serve the public good. Ninety-two students created classroom "DREAM TEAMS" for researching and seeking solutions for selected…

This paper uses photo-cued interviewing and grounded theory approaches to understand student empowerment resulting from study abroad programs. Using data from 62 students who traveled to 9 countries on several different programs, this paper highlights what student empowerment as an outcome of study abroad can look like and how student empowerment…

As universities create service-learning programs, educators are experimenting with pedagogical approaches that enhance learning outcomes while benefiting communities. We present a qualitative case study of a radio-based, service-learning program, grounded in a Freirean foundation and aimed at developing the cultural competence and sense of…

The profusion of human rights atrocities and purported incidents of genocide across the globe in recent decades has increasingly forced multiple and complicated issues associated with combating these violations onto the political agendas of world leaders and institutions. Scholars are united in recognizing the growing importance and need for…

This qualitative case study investigates how service-learning may enable self-direction and the development of a critical consciousness for marginalized high school students by exploring the dynamics of service-learning through a theoretical framework of critical theory. Service-learning is theorized to counter the oppressive nature of schooling…

Identifying a community problem or need and helping to solve it via student-led initiatives is at the heart of service learning. Elson Nash, associate director for program management at Learn and Serve America, a grant program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and USA Freedom Corps, calls service learning "the glue that…

Last year, 15 students in the Montpelier (Vermont) High School's Advanced Placement Spanish class paid class-time visits every week to a nearby dairy farm. They interacted with the Mexican laborers by conversing with them in Spanish, having picnics together, and playing cards and soccer. As the students advanced their Spanish verbal skills, they…

The Academy For Learning (AFL) serves urban students with emotional and behavioral problems. Through a Personal and Social Responsibility program, students develop skills for personal growth and service learning. Many alternative programs for troubled students offer little more than a curriculum for containment and control. In contrast, students…

Roads Scholars, a teacher-driven, interdisciplinary student service program, represented the completion of a goal the author had set when he first became Centennial High School's principal five years earlier--to create an environment where staff members felt empowered to dream, create, and implement programs without seeking his consent. To…