Title: Service-Learning in Schools: A Guide for Parents

Word Count: about 1000 words

Abstract:

Service-learning is one of the fastest growing educational movements in schools today. Research has shown that students engaged in high quality service-learning programs in schools earn higher GPA’s and score higher on achievement tests. Schools experience fewer student discipline issues, increased school attendance and reduced drop-out rates. And communities benefit. Find out more about this hot education trend and how it may benefit your children, your local schools and your community.

Excerpt:

Fifth graders in a city school want to know more about the homeless people they sometimes see on their way to school. Their teacher arranges for representatives from local agencies that serve the homeless to speak to the class. Then students and teacher tour city parks and streets, sitting and lying down in the places where the homeless sleep. Students try to imagine huddling on a park bench at night, hungry, cold and alone. They work in teams to clean up these public areas where the homeless live. Later in the year, the Student Council holds a canned food drive to benefit a homeless shelter and soup kitchen. Students bring their donations with a new understanding of who will use the food.

Eighth graders in a rural school study global citizenship, how to be good stewards of the earth, and issues like global warming, sustainable development and dwindling natural resources. They learn of the conflict between commercial interests and natural resources in the gold mining that’s destroying Peruvian rainforests. They find an organization in Peru called ANIA that builds schools to educate Peruvian children about the importance of protecting their rainforests. The students decide to help ANIA build a school. They undertake a month-long project where each child creates craft items which they then auction to raise money. They raise $3000, enough for ANIA to build two schools. The Peruvian children later send photos of themselves and their new schools to the students, along with necklaces they’ve made from seeds from the rainforest.

This is service-learning – one of the fastest growing educational movements in schools today. Service-learning combines classroom curriculum with related community service, offering students opportunities to apply what they learn behind a desk by rolling up their sleeves and taking action in their community. High quality service-learning programs in schools have several key components… * When service is dis-service (475 words) * What agencies want parents and schools to know (390 words) * Template for you to fill in localized information on area schools’ service-learning programs

Recommended Supplements

• When service is dis-service (475 words)
• What agencies want parents and schools to know (390 words)
• Template for you to fill in localized information on area schools’ service-learning programs