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Background and information on service-learning and the CalServe K-12 Service-Learning Initiative (from the California Department of Education website). 

What is Service-Learning?

Service-learning is an instructional strategy whereby students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of the community. It is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students while fostering their civic responsibility.

The CalServe K-12 Service-Learning Initiative

Through the CalServe Initiative, the California Department of Education (CDE) provides direct funding assistance to school-community partnerships and 12 Regional Leads (Outside Source) that involve over 120,000 students and 15,000 community volunteers in urban, rural, and suburban communities throughout the state. It is CDE's vision that 50 percent of all districts will include service-learning as part of their regular instructional practice, engaging students in at least one service-learning experience at each grade span (K-5, 6-8, and 9-12).

Example of Quality Service-Learning

Middle school students at South Tahoe Middle School work in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to conduct an in-depth study of a nearby watershed as part of their science curriculum. The students identify what constitutes a healthy watershed, and with the help of the teachers and volunteer biologists, hydrologists, and environmental engineers, the students design a rehabilitation plan to restore degraded areas of the watershed. In their language arts classes, students develop articles and public service announcements to educate the greater community and to highlight the importance of environmental sensitivity.

Background

In 1990, President George Bush created the Office of National Service in the White House and the Points of Light Foundation to foster volunteering. That same year, Congress passed, and President Bush signed into law, the National Community Service Act. This act authorized grants to schools to support service-learning and demonstration grants for national service programs to youth corps, nonprofits, and colleges and universities.

An Introduction to the Corporation for National and Community Service

The Corporation for National and Community Service came into being when President Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. Congress stated its expectations for the Corporation in this statement of its purpose (42 U.S.C. § 12501):

  1. meet the unmet human, educational, environmental, and public safety needs of the United States, without displacing existing workers;
  2. renew the ethic of civic responsibility and the spirit of community throughout the United States;
  3. expand educational opportunity by rewarding individuals who participate in national service with an increased ability to pursue higher education or job training;
  4. encourage citizens of the United States, regardless of age, income, or disability, to engage in full-time or part-time national service;
  5. reinvent government to eliminate duplication, support locally established initiatives, require measurable goals for performance, and offer flexibility in meeting those goals;