Academic Service Learning Standards for Quality Practice
(Adapted from NYLC Standards)
The best service-learning projects will incorporate the following elements:
MEANINGFUL SERVICE: Relevance to All Participants
Service-learning actively engages participants in meaningful and personally relevant service activities.
Indicators:
- Service-learning experiences are appropriate to participant ages and developmental abilities.
- Service-learning addresses issues that are personally relevant to the participants.
- Service-learning provides participants with interesting and engaging service activities.
- Service-learning encourages participants to understand their service experiences in the context of the underlying societal issues being addressed.
- Service-learning leads to attainable and visible outcomes that are valued by those being served.
LINK to CURRICULUM: Accomplishing the Larger Goals of the Classroom
Service-learning is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.
Indicators:
- Service-learning has clearly articulated learning goals.
- Service-learning is aligned with the academic and/or programmatic curriculum.
- Service-learning helps participants learn how to transfer knowledge and skills from one setting to another.
REFLECTION: Looking at the "Why" of What We Do
Service-learning incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one’s relationship to society.
Indicators:
- Service-learning reflection includes a variety of verbal, written, artistic, and nonverbal activities to demonstrate understanding and changes in participants’ knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes.
- Service-learning reflection occurs before, during, and after the service experience.
- Service-learning reflection prompts participants to think deeply about complex community problems and alternative solutions.
- Service-learning reflection encourages participants to examine their preconceptions and assumptions in order to explore and understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens.
- Service-learning reflection encourages participants to examine a variety of social and civic issues related to their service-learning experience so that participants understand connections to public policy and civic life.
DIVERSITY: Learning to Value Multiple Perspectives
Service-learning promotes understanding of diversity and mutual respect among all participants.
Indicators:
- Service-learning helps participants identify and analyze different points of view to gain understanding of multiple perspectives.
- Service-learning helps participants develop interpersonal skills in conflict resolution and group decision-making.
- Service-learning helps participants actively seek to understand and value the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of those offering and receiving service.
- Service-learning encourages participants to recognize and overcome stereotypes.
STUDENT VOICE: Encouraging Students to Take Leadership
Service-learning provides students with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service-learning experiences with guidance from the instructor and community partner.
Indicators:
- Service-learning engages students in generating ideas during the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes.
- Service-learning involves students in the decision-making process throughout the service-learning experiences.
- Service-learning involves students, instructors, and community partners in creating an environment that supports trust and open expression of ideas.
- Service-learning promotes acquisition of knowledge and skills to enhance student leadership and decision-making.
- Service-learning involves students in evaluating the quality and effectiveness of the service-learning experience.
PARTNERSHIPS: Working Collaboratively to Accomplish Goals
Service-learning partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.
Indicators:
- Service-learning involves a variety of partners, including students, educators, community members, community-based organizations, and/or businesses.
- Service-learning partnerships are characterized by frequent and regular communication to keep all partners well-informed about activities and progress.
- Service-learning partners collaborate to establish a shared vision and set common goals to address community needs.
- Service-learning partners collaboratively develop and implement action plans to meet specified goals.
- Service-learning partners share knowledge and understanding of school and community assets and needs, and view each other as valued resources.
PROGRESS MONITORING: Assessment and Evaluation
Service-learning engages participants in an ongoing process to assess the quality of implementation and progress toward meeting specified goals, and uses results for improvement and sustainability.
Indicators:
- Service-learning participants collect evidence of progress toward meeting specific service goals and learning outcomes from multiple sources throughout the service-learning experience.
- Service-learning participants collect evidence of the quality of service-learning implementation from multiple sources throughout the service-learning experience.
- Service-learning participants use evidence to improve service-learning experiences.
- Service-learning participants communicate evidence of progress toward goals and outcomes with the broader community, including policy-makers and education leaders, to deepen service-learning understanding and ensure that high quality practices are sustained.
DURATION and INTENSITY: Meaningful Outcomes Take Dedication, Investment, Commitment and Time
Service-learning has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.
Indicators:
- Service-learning experiences include the processes of investigating community needs, preparing for service, action, reflection, demonstration of learning and impacts, and celebration.
- Service-learning is conducted during concentrated blocks of time across a period of several weeks or months.
- Service-learning experiences provide enough time to address identified community needs and achieve learning outcomes.