For over a decade, the national Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) project has promoted the idea that well-being is an essential outcome of college students' learning and civic engagement. The project emphasizes the full promise of a liberal education: to be liberally educated is to possess the complex skills and abilities necessary for…

The concept of and approach to service-learning across higher education has changed dramatically over the last two and a half decades. Historically, one of the primary goals of service-learning was to prepare undergraduate students to become engaged citizens and to introduce them to the challenges experienced by individuals from marginalized or…

Evidence has emerged that the civic engagement movement in US higher education may not be fulfilling its transformative potential, having lost sight of its core democratic purposes. Civic engagement conceptualised only in terms of activity and place--programmes in communities--may be easily accommodated to prevailing technocratic practices. For…

What if, in 2020, a new generation of leaders ends the war in Iraq and turns its attention to pressing domestic issues eventually resulting in a healthier economy and renewed investments in the urban core? What if, in 2020, having tried and failed at the beginning of the 21st century to improve urban education with prescriptive, high stakes…

C. Wright Mills would be a friendly critic of service learning, acknowledging its benefits for providing students with experiential learning opportunities to connect personal troubles with social issues. Yet he would be critical of service-learning practices that perpetuate institutional power inequalities and that do not advance the social change…

Discusses findings of a study of service-learning programs in middle schools in Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Missouri, particularly noting reasons the programs could be improved to show a greater impact on students. Considers the effects of such programs on students' academic achievement and social development. (JPB)

A guide for college and university educators who manage service-learning programs, or programs that support student involvement in the community, is presented. A systematic approach to planning and managing service-learning programs is presented, management functions for supporting a service-learning system are identified, and ideas on…

Service learning is an inclusive pedagogy appropriate for children, youth, and adults of all cultural backgrounds. Such programs share a commitment to lifelong learning and a philosophical base in experiential education. Planners need to choose an appropriate point of reference, identify learning goals, define activities accordingly, combine…

Describes three community-based service-learning activities developed by the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Services. The interdisciplinary program provides field experience for medical and graduate students as well as community medical services for the elderly. Objectives and evaluations of the programs are presented. (Author/JAC)

Describes SAIL (Students Active in Leadership) as a school-based, youth-directed group. States that the program helps teenagers learn leadership skills by developing and implementing community service activities. SAIL finds partners with whom to collaborate among local businesses, government, and health associations, and these partners provide the…

Introduces the range of goals that service learning promises to achieve, noting specific principles that can help meet those goals. Information is based on a six-year study of experiential education combining academic and field research. A conceptual framework for organizing the planning, development, and evaluation of service and experiential…

A study examined experiential education programs in terms of how they developed participants' personal agency, sense of belonging, and levels of competence. Personal agency empowers students to become change agents in their lives and communities; sense of belonging enables participants to see themselves as members of a community with rights and…

This report illustrates how community service learning can be used as a vehicle for achieving the goals of education and youth development and, concurrently, how it is highly consistent with the goals of systemic educational reform, particularly in rural schools and communities. Part 1 covers the definition of service learning as a method of…

This document contains 13 papers on advances in service-learning research. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Andrew Furco, Shelley H. Billig); "Community Service and Service-Learning in America: The State of the Art" (Ivor Pritchard); "Is Service-Learning Really Better Than Community Service? A Study of…

The community literacy program of Western District Adult Basic Education in Georgia was examined to demonstrate how the meaning and value of literacy is a function of specific local institutions. The goal of the examination was to theorize literacy by constructing a localized framework for understanding literacy within a given institution in order…