Community Service Learning (CSL) is, potentially, the most powerful and far-reaching educational reform movement in recent memory. Yet, that potential has yet to be realized. One major reason for CSL's limited success is found in its runaway conceptual confusion: in becoming everything to everyone, CSL has lost its philosophical bearings and, not…

To creatively and competently utilize community resources and to work successfully for the benefit of all students requires that educational leaders develop positive diversity dispositions. This study explores the effect of school community relations instruction in enhancing educational administration candidates' skills, beliefs, and connections…

Service-learning opportunities are prominent on many college campuses. The process of designing and implementing service-learning experiences, especially for students of gerontology, however, has rarely been addressed. The current article briefly reviews the background and utility of service-learning in gerontology courses, describes our…

This essay addresses how to cope with several potential barriers to implementing effective service-learning projects. The discussion builds on experiences of developing and refining service-learning in upper-division communication courses. Difficulties arise in three areas: the institutional and physical setting, student attitudes, and community…

This report on Michigan's demographics examines the changing composition of Michigan's households and the ramification for Michigan schools. The report states that between 1980 and 2000, Michigan's population grew by 7.3 percent, while the number of households grew by 590,448, or 18 percent. Households are growing faster than the population…

Programs that educate students about their local community's history and ecology, and enable student interaction with the community through service and experiential learning are helpful to high-risk students, promote socially responsible citizenship, instill a sense of place, and can develop local funding and resources. Gives examples of local…

This paper describes an innovative interdisciplinary course offered at the University of New Orleans (Louisiana) which involved community members as full-fledged partners with students and university faculty in service-learning-by-doing teams. Each student, with the assistance of a faculty member and a community partner, identified an opportunity…

Discusses potential benefits of service-learning in aging--to students, university, and community. Examines opportunities for service-learning using examples from the current Intergenerational Service-Learning Project of the National Council on Aging. The complexity of initiating and gaining acceptance of service-learning in aging projects is…

Community revitalization efforts based on community partnerships between educators, civic leaders, local employers, entrepreneurs, and parents are gaining momentum. Local schools play a leading role in many of these. Discusses three models of school/community interaction, how relationships build social capital, mapping community assets, getting…