Meaningful Service
Service learning actively engages participants in meaningful and personnally relevant service activities.
1. Service learning experiences are appropriate to participant ages and developmental abilities.
2. Service learning addresses issues that are personally relevant to the participants.
3. Service learning provides participants with interesting and engaging service activities.
4. Service learning encourages participants to understand their service experiences in the context of the underlying societal issues being addressed.
5. Service learning leads to attainable and visible outcomes that valued by those being served.
Link to Curriculum
Service learning is intentionally used as an instructional strategy to meet learning goals and/or content standards.
1. Service learning has clearly articulated learning goals.
2. Service learning is aligned with the academic and/or programmatic curriculum.
3. Service learning helps participants learn how to transfer knowledge and skills from one setting to another.
4. Service learning that takes place in schools id forally recognized in school board policies and student records.
Duration and Intensity
Service learning has sufficient duration and to address community needs and meet specified out comes.
1. Service learning experiences include the processes of investigating community needs, preparing for service, action, reflection, demonstration of learning and impacts, and celebration.
2. Service learning is conducted during concentrated blocks of time across a period of serveral weeks or months.
3. Service learning experiences provide enough time to address identified community needs and achieve learning outcomes.
Reflection
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.
1. Service learning relfection includes a variety of verbal, written, artistic, and nonverbal activities to demonstrate understanding and changes in participants' knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes.
2. Service learning reflection occurs before, during, and after the service experience.
3. Service learning reflection prompts participants to think deeply aboput complex community problems and alternative solutions.
4. Service learning reflection encourages participants to examine their preconceptions and assumptions in order to explore and understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens.
5. Service learning reflection encourages participants to examine a variety of social and civic issues related to their service learning experience so that participants understand their connection to public policy and civic life.
Diversity
Service learning promotes understanding of diversity and mutual respect among all participants.
1. Service learning helps participants identify and analyze different points of view to gain understanding of multiiple perspectives.
2. Service learning helps participants develop interpersonal skills in conflict resolution and group decision making.
3. Service learning helps participants actively seek to understand and value the diverse backgounds and perspectives of those offering and receiving service.
4. Service learning encourages participants to recognize and overcome stereotypes.
Youth Voice
Service learning proveds youth with a strong voice in planning, implementing, and evaluating service learning experiences with guidance from adults.
1. Service learning engages youth in generating ideas during the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes.
2. Service learning involves youth in the decision making process throughout the service learning experience.
3. Service learning involvew youth and adults in creating an environment that supports trust and open expression of ideas.
4. Service learning projotes acquisition of knowledge and skills to enhance youth leadership and decision making.
5. Service learning involves youth in evaluating the quality and effectiveness of the service learning experience.
Partnerships
Service learning partnerships are collaborative, mutually beneficial, and address community needs.
1. Service learning involves a variety of partners, including youth, educators, families, community members, community based organizations, and/or businesses.
2. Service learning partnerships are characterized by frequent and regular communication to keep all partners well-informed about activities and progress.
3. Service learning partners collaborate to establish a shared vision and set common goals to address community needs.
4. Service learning partners collaboratively develop and implement action plans to meet specified goals.
5. Service learning partners share knowledge and understanding of school and community assets and needs, and view each other as valued resources.
Progress Monitoring
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.
1. Service learning participants collect evidence of progess toward meeting specific service goals and learning outcomes from multiple sources throughout the service learning experience.
2. Service learning participants collect evidence of the quality of service learning implementation from multiple sources throughout the service learning experience.
3. Service learning participants use evidence to improve service learning experiences.
4. 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.
