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Service-learning is an instructional approach for learning curricular objectives. In implementing service-learning, young people identify community needs, plan ways in which they can help meet those needs, implement their plans through provision of community service, and reflect on their successes and challenges. As a character education approach, service-learning emphasizes the development of social responsibility, citizenship and civic engagement, efficacy, and skills related to tackling community issues, such as research, planning, decision making, and problem solving. This article provides results and analysis from a 4-year service-learning character education grant in Philadelphia. Middle and high school students engaged in a variety of service-learning projects facilitated by community partner organizations and well-prepared teachers. Using primarily quantitative data, the study shows that service-learning can be an effective tool for reaching character education outcomes. Significant differences were found between service-learning participants and nonparticipants in multiple areas, including citizenship and civic engagement, social responsibility, and caring, as measured by surveys; suspensions and serious incidents; and academic achievement scores. Moderators of outcomes included teacher experience and quality of service-learning practice.
Service-learning is an instructional approach whereby young people perform service as a way of learning important curricular objectives. Young people generally have a choice in the area and type of community service to provide. For example, they may work to resolve needs associated with the environment; home- lessness; justice; senior citizens; literacy; the foster care system; prison populations; or any social issues that they believe they can address, Service-learning is a strategy being widely implemented in K-12 schools. In 2005, Scales and Roehlkepartain estimated that service-learning was in 28% of all public schools and 44% of high schools. The percentages in private schools are even higher (Pritchard, 2002). Service-learning does not produce singular outcomes, but rather tends to be associated with outcomes in multiple youth development areas, including academic, civic, social/emotional, and career (Billig, Root, & Jesse, 2005).
The use of service-learning explicitly to meet character education outcomes appears to have increased over time. In 2002, when the U.S. Department of Education initially funded character education grants, only three featured service-learning. In 2007, that number has substantially increased, with more than half of the grantees using service-learning as one of their primary character education approaches.
A review of the literature...