CBL Book

Communit y-Ba sed
Le a r ning
Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship
Atelia Melaville
Amy C. Berg
Martin J. Blank
Coalition for Community Schools
with Generous Support from

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Coalition
for
Community
Schools
MISSION STATEMENT
The Coalition’s mission is to mobilize the assets of schools, families, and communities to create a
united movement for community schools. Community schools strengthen schools, families, and
communities to improve student learning.
STEERING COMMITTEE
Ira Harkavy, Chair Clifford Johnson
Center for Community Partnerships National League of Cities
University of Pennsylvania
Peter Kleinbard
Lisa Villarreal, Vice Chair Fund for the City of New York
The San Francisco Foundation
Beth Lapin
Carlos Azcoitia School of the 21st Century
Chicago Public Schools Yale University
Marion Baldwin Karen Mapp

National Center for Community Education Harvard Graduate School of Education
Doris Baylor Virginia Mason

Minneapolis YMCA Family Support America
Amanda Broun Mary Jo Pankoke

Public Education Network Nebraska Foundation for
Children and Families
Daniel Cardinali
Communities In Schools Steve Parson
National Community Education Association
Joan Devlin
American Federation of Teachers Jane Quinn
Children’s Aid Society
Joy Dryfoos
Independent Researcher Sharon Adams Taylor
American Association of
Deanna Duby School Administrators
National Education Association
Alison Yaunches
Ayeola Fortune The Rural School and Community Trust
Council of Chief State School Officers
Martin J. Blank, Staff Director
Josephine Franklin Coalition for Community Schools
National Association of
Secondary School Principals
Preface
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions

in which they can learn.
–Albert Einstein
E
ducation is the foundation of democracy. As such it must
work for all young people. Yet far too often young people
disengage from learning and do not reach their full, human
potential. Community schools—places where partners come
together to offer a range of supports and opportunities for
children, youth, families, and communities before, during, and after
school—address this need by using community-based learning to reen-
gage students in education and to create the conditions for their success.
Community schools foster a learning environment that extends far
beyond the classroom walls. Students learn and problem solve in the
context of their lives and communities. Community schools nurture this
natural engagement. Because of the deep and purposeful connections
between schools and communities, the curriculum is influenced and
enhanced, removing the artificial separation between the classroom and
the real world. Our vision for community schools is that they are places
where all students engage in learning, achieve to the best of their ability,
and become productive citizens and participants in our democracy.
Community-Based Learning: Engaging Students for Success and Citi-
zenship underscores the need for a concerted and intentional effort to
engage all students in learning. Numerous approaches to community-
based learning are already in use; this paper highlights six models with a
particular emphasis on community problem solving: academically based
community service, civic education, environment-based education,
place-based learning, service learning, and work-based learning. If all stu-
dents are to succeed, we must pay much more attention to community-
based learning as a strategy for engaging and motivating students and for
strengthening the relationship between schools and communities.
The Coalition for Community Schools is grateful to the support of
An-me Chung at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for her continu-
ing encouragement and assistance with this work. The Coalition would
also like to thank the many organizations that have contributed to this
report. Representatives of the following organizations contributed to the
ideas expressed in this document (see Appendix C for more information).
iii
• American Youth Policy Forum
• Antioch New England Institute
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
• Blueprint Research & Design, Inc.
• Campaign for the Civic Mission, Council for Excellence in Government
• Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania
• The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and
Engagement
• Chicago High School Redesign Initiative at the Chicago Community
Trust
• Citizen Schools
• Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and
Serve America
• Earth Force
• Education Alliance at Brown University
• Forum for Youth Investment
• Funders Forum on Education and the Environment
• Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford University
• Institute for Research and Reform in Education
• Lewis and Clark College, Graduate School of Education
• National Academy Foundation
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National Center for Learning and Citizenship, Education Commission
of the States
• National Education Association
• National Environment Education and Training Foundation
• National Service Learning Partnership
• National Youth Leadership Council
• RMC Research Corporation
• Rural School and Community Trust
• State Education and Environmental Roundtable
We look forward to working with these groups—and others—to advance
our community-based learning agenda.
Ira Harkavy
Ira Harkavy Lisa Villarreal Martin J. Blank

Chair Vice Chair Staff Director
Coalition for Coalition for Coalition for
Community Schools Community Schools Community Schools
iv
CONTENTS
Preface iii
Chapter 1: The Rationale for Community-Based Learning 1
Chapter 2: Overview and Core Characteristics 7
Chapter 3: Outcomes of Community-Based Learning 23
Chapter 4: Moving the Agenda Forward 27
Appendix A: Theoretical Foundations of
Community-Based Learning 33
Appendix B: Community-Based Learning Approaches 39
Appendix C: Resource Organizations and People 47
End Notes 51
v
COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship
CHAPTER 1
The Rationale for Community-BASED Learning
There are two types of education: One should teach us how to

make a living and the other should teach us how to live.
–John Adams
I
n recent years, national tragedies—both manmade and natural—
have forced Americans to see how much we rely on strong
neighborhoods, communities, and democratic institutions.
We’ve seen how lack of attention to their well being affects us
all. These events lay bare the moral imperative that underlies the
mission of public education—to develop active, engaged citizens who are
able to participate in and contribute fully to a democratic society.
In order to learn how to be citizens, students must act as citizens.
Therefore, education must connect subject matter with the places where
students live and the issues that affect us all. Schools are ideally situated
to connect learning with real life; but typically, they do not. To a large
extent, public education—following the lead of higher education—has
failed to recognize the benefits of student engagement with their com-
munities in acquiring knowledge.
Not surprisingly, by the time they are in high school, as many as 40 to
60 percent of all students—urban, suburban, and rural—are chronically
disengaged from school.1 That disturbing number does not include the
young people who have already dropped out. Moreover, 65 percent say
they are unexcited about their classes.2
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a group of major business and
education organizations, believes that making the connection between
learning and the real world is imperative for student success. Accord-
ing to the Partnership, “the education system faces irrelevance unless we
bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn.” The Part-
nership defines literacy to mean not just reading, writing, and computing
skills, but “knowing how to use knowledge and skills in the context of
modern life.”3
A large majority of respondents to several national surveys agreed that
involving students in more real-world learning experiences would greatly
improve student outcomes.

Ë Ninety-five percent of students (ages thirteen to nineteen) said op-
portunities for more real world learning would improve their school.
Seventy-one percent said that it would improve their school a great
deal.4 –Horatio Alger Association
Ë Ninety-two percent of adults (including teachers) favored emphasizing
real world learning in schools including work study, community service,
and vocational courses. Sixty-four percent of adults strongly advocated
emphasizing real world learning.5 –Educational Testing Service
Ë Seventy percent of teachers strongly advocated emphasizing real
world learning.6 –Educational Testing Service
Despite these facts, public schools have not pursued large scale efforts
to bridge the gap between living and learning. While many schools reach
out to community partners for resources, services, and support, far fewer
take advantage of opportunities for students to learn outside the class-
room walls—through participation in community life.
The Coalition for Community Schools believes that the vision set
forth in No Child Left Behind—to educate all students to high stan-
dards—can only be fully realized if students are engaged in learning that
connects them to the larger world.
A Common Sense Solution: Community-Based Learning

Community schools offer a common sense approach for linking living
and learning. A growing number of schools and community partners are
adapting courses—both during the regular school day and after school—
that allow students to learn in their communities. This link between
schools and community partners is a critical element of community
schools, offering students ways to develop the skills and knowledge nec-
essary for success in adulthood. The aim of these courses is to more fully
engage young people, by harnessing their natural interest in where and
how they live and by using their own community as a source of learning
and action.
To create both learners and citizens, the Coalition for Community
Schools advocates strategies that engage students in learning through
community-based problem solving. Collectively referred to as community-
based learning, these strategies include academically based community
service, civic education, environmental education, place-based learning,
service learning, and work-based learning. It draws from research on
peer-assisted learning, project-based learning, and experiential learning.

As an intentional dimension of the curriculum, community-based
learning helps students acquire, practice, and apply subject matter
knowledge and skills. At the same time, students develop the knowledge,
skills, and attributes of effective citizenship by identifying and acting on
issues and concerns that affect their own communities. When imple-
mented thoughtfully, these strategies create a pedagogy of engagement.
Students invest time and attention and expend real effort because their
learning has meaning and purpose.
Community-based learning helps students build a sense of connection
to their communities. At the same time, it challenges them to develop a
range of intellectual and academic skills in order to understand and take
action on the issues they encounter in everyday life. By intentionally
linking academic standards to the real world of their communities, com-
munity schools are narrowing the gap between knowledge and action
and between what students must learn and what they can contribute.
Successful Implementation: Common Sense Drivers

While no single approach guarantees success, community-based learning
offers an important avenue for achieving multiple goals by developing
knowledge and skills in many more students, increasing school resources
and support, and improving communities. While community-based learn-
ing may look different depending on the school and community involved,
the Coalition for Community Schools identified several basic assumptions
that drive successful implementation and promote public support.
Ë We’re all in this together. Society as a whole—families, community
members, the private and not-for-profit sectors, government, faith
communities, and students themselves, along with schools—shares
responsibility in preparing young people for future success. Success
includes living productive lives, engaging in lifelong learning, finding
gainful employment, and contributing to civic life. To close the gap
between living and learning, schools need to seek out teaching and
learning opportunities from within their communities. At the same
time, advocates and practitioners of individual, community-based
learning strategies need to work together in bringing these real world
approaches to the classroom.
Ë Prepare for the future today. America’s school age children and youth
will be tomorrow’s parents, workers, and citizens. Their energy, curios-
ity, and—too often—their unmet needs already shape their neighbor-
hoods and communities. Schools implementing community-based

learning understand that preparing students for the future means help-
ing them become involved in positive community opportunities, today.
Ë Community-based learning happens everywhere. Community-based
learning must be integrated within the regular school-based curricu-
lum. Before and after school programs and a host of community-based
organizations currently offer an important venue for shrinking the
gap between living and learning. Successful implementation of com-
munity-based learning opportunities in these settings may introduce
the benefits of community-based learning to school staff, families, and
decision makers, thus easing its way into the regular curriculum.
Ë Make better use of what we know. Much is known about how young
people learn and what motivates their interest. A considerable gap ex-
ists between this research, however, and the approach to teaching and
learning employed by a majority of schools and educators.7 Commu-
nity-based learning strategies are founded on well researched theoreti-
cal frameworks and have been used in many settings. Implementation
is most effective when educators understand the broad theoretical
principles that underlie these strategies and use this information to
shape and evaluate their practice.
Academically based community service, civic education, environmen-

tal education, place-based learning, service learning, and work-based
learning are increasingly evident in classrooms and after school programs.
School staff, administrators, parents, community members, and students
themselves see the benefits of these strategies and want them to take root
and grow in their schools and communities. Until now, however, the glue
needed to join these separate efforts has been missing. By uniting these
strategies under the banner of community-based learning, the Coalition
for Community Schools intends to call attention to their shared purposes
and greatly increase their visibility.
Overview of the Report

In the following pages we present information that will help educators,
community partners, policy makers, and funders consider the potential
benefit to be gained from implementing community-based learning
within their schools, districts, and states.
Ë Chapter 2 provides an overview of the community-based learning
model and its underlying theoretical basis. It describes the shared
characteristics of community-based learning and connects theory to

practice by exploring how these character-
An Urban Nutrition Initiative
istics build on what we know about how
young people learn.
Since the 1980s, the University of Pennsylvania’s
Ë Chapter 3 summarizes the outcomes— Center for Community Partnerships has used
academic, civic and moral, personal and academically based community service, both to
enrich university and public school curricula and
social, and work related—of various to contribute to the surrounding community.
community-based learning strategies. Over 100 Penn courses have been designed—or
redesigned—with a focus on community revi-
Ë Chapter 4 is a call to action aimed at policy talization in the development and application of
makers, advocates, and practitioners. course content.
The Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI) grew out of

Throughout the report, examples briefly il- an undergraduate anthropology course in which
lustrate how community-based learning engages students and teachers at a local middle school
young people—by helping them meet academ- worked with Penn students to research and take
action on nutrition related health disparities,
ic, social, and work goals—and how it improves especially obesity. Today UNI involves Penn stu-
their communities. These examples from urban, dents and public school students through high
rural, and suburban communities focus on a di- school age in improving community health—and
versity of issues, including a lack of community their own academic, social, and work skills—by
growing, cooking, and selling food and by shar-
newspapers, obesity, a declining economy, and a ing their knowledge and skills with others. Learn-
burdened school system. ing is based on active problem solving and draws
on skills and content from multiple disciplines.
The appendices offer more information.
With initial consultation from business students
Ë Appendix A reviews the theoretical at Penn’s Wharton School and permanent Penn
foundations underlying the community- staff support, middle school students run an after
school fruit and vegetable stand, offering healthy
based learning model.
alternatives to high fat snacks. Older students
Ë Appendix B provides an overview of the six grow produce for the stand as well as for area
businesses in a paid, after school program. They
major community-based learning approaches participate in UNI’s job training and entre-
chosen for their emphasis on community preneurship program and many are linked to
problem solving. another Penn partnership, the EcoTech Academy,
a school within a school located at University City
Ë Appendix C lists information about relevant High School. Its curriculum is organized around
organizations and resources available. food and its production. UNI students also run a
community fitness program; plans for a food co-
op are on the drawing board.

CHAPTER 2
Overview and core characteristics
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural
curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
–Anatole France
C
ommunity-based learning represents a convergence of
multiple theoretical frameworks and supporting research,
all of which suggest that young people are more likely to
be engaged in learning—to invest attention and expend
energy—when the content has personal meaning and
builds on what they already know. Moreover, students are more likely to
retain and transfer knowledge when given opportunities to apply what
they are learning to real world issues and to assess their performance in
ways that suit their personal learning styles.8
If we follow this line of reasoning, the value of community-based
learning is clear. Nevertheless, for too many students—particularly as
they advance through school—learning behavior is characterized by
a reduction in intrinsic interest, an increase in negative feelings about
school, lower achievement, and negative reactions to failure. This decline
is not developmentally inevitable. Instead, it is the result of personal and
environmental factors, organizational features of schools, instructional
methods, and the curriculum.9 Community-based learning offers educa-
tors tools with which to reverse this negative trend.
Community-Based Learning Strategies

Community-based learning unites sets of strategies designed to engage
students in learning at high standards, including academically based
community service, civic education, environmental education, place-
based learning, service learning, and work-based learning. Each of these
strategies has its own advocates and practitioners, history, and accom-
plishments. Separately, each brings a unique perspective and valuable
resources to teaching and learning.

Theoretical Foundation of Community-Based Learning
Ë Knowledge is constructed and influenced by social interaction.
Ë Memory—the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information—is influ-

enced by experience, prior learning, and practice.
Ë The motivation to learn is affected by personal judgments about one’s abili-

ties and the perceived importance and attainability of the learning goal.
Ë Individuals learn in different ways.
Ë Barriers to learning can be mitigated by protective factors.
Ë Effective learning environments intentionally connect all of the systems that

affect young people’s lives—home, school and community.
Appendix A offers a more in depth look at this research.
Ë Academically Based Community Service connects the academic

mission of colleges and universities with the aspirations of the com-
munities that surround them. At both the higher education institution
and the public school, courses are designed—or redesigned—to focus
on revitalizing the community. University faculty work with their
public school colleagues to devise joint learning; university students
enter schools as co-learners and role models for younger students; and
university and school students share resources with each other.
Ë Civic Education aims to prepare competent and responsible citizens.
It advocates civic and political engagement and provides active learn-
ing experiences that connect students’ academic learning with civic
involvement. The ideas and concepts emphasized are essential to con-
stitutional democracy and highlight democratic concepts of relevance
to students and their experiences.
Ë Environmental Education capitalizes on children’s native curiosity—
about the natural world and the social relationships they find there—
by using the school’s surroundings and the community as a framework
within which students construct their own learning.”10 This strategy
“is not primarily focused on learning about the environment…it uses
the environment…to give voice to students’ natural interests and prior
knowledge.”11
Ë Place-Based Learning uses the unique history, environment, culture,
and economy of a particular place to provide a context for learning.

Student work is directed toward community
Filling the Gaps in Local Democracy
needs and interests, and community mem-
bers serve as resources and partners in every
The Program for Rural Services and Research
aspect of teaching and learning.
(PRSR) at the University of Alabama works col-
Ë Service Learning integrates community laboratively with rural communities and schools
to identify and address local concerns. When it
service with academic study to enrich learn- became clear that local and regional print media
ing, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen no longer served many areas in the state, PRSR
communities.12 The service activity meets a began working with teachers, students, and
community need identified by students. The schools to find resources for producing commu-
nity newspapers. They figured it was a win-win
activity is tied to academic goals and provides proposition. Access to information is vital to the
an opportunity for student reflection and health of a democratic community, and journal-
celebration. ism is a hands on way to teach and learn writing
plus a host of academic, social, and civic skills.
Ë Work-Based Learning is a strategy that
The collaboration has resulted in some twenty
allows young people to spend time with schools where students produce, publish, and dis-
adults—whether in a mentoring relation- tribute the only local newspaper. In the process,
ship, role model situation, or informational they develop professional level skills in writing,
interaction—to learn about careers. Its aim research, editing, layout design, advertising, and
circulation. Teachers make sure that curriculum
is to make learning relevant by incorporating content permeates the whole endeavor. As a re-
industry valued standards to inform curri- sult, the public benefits while students meet and
cula, by providing opportunities for contex- exceed their curriculum requirements and gain
tual and applied learning, and by promot- valuable entrepreneurial skills.
ing program continuity from K–12 to post

secondary education and training.
Unifying Core Characteristics

What unites these strategies is a set of common characteristics. In turn,
these core characteristics form the basic framework of the community-
based learning model. Dialogue among leaders in these fields resulted in
agreement that all of these strategies share the following:
Ë Meaningful Content. Learning occurs in places and focuses on issues
that have meaning for students.
Ë Voice and Choice. Learning tasks are active and allow students to take
an active role in decision making.
Ë Personal and Public Purpose. Learning goals connect personal
achievement to public purpose.
Ë Assessment and Feedback. Conducting ongoing assessment gives
students the opportunity to learn from their successes and failures.

Ë Resources and Relationships. Community partnerships increase the
resources and relationships available for student learning and action.
In the following pages we discuss each core characteristic, highlight

the underlying research, and illustrate how community-based learning
puts that research into practice.
Caring for the Land
In Beaver, Oregon, elements of service learning, environmental education, and

work-based learning brought meaning and fostered academic and civic excel-
lence among seventh and eighth graders at Nestucca Valley Middle School.
When students in a Natural Resources class were given the chance to manage a
quarter mile strip of land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), they
enthusiastically set to work. They developed a comprehensive plan for adaptive
forest management using math, science, and language skills. They also re-
searched how the history and geography of the region contributed to the forest’s
deterioration. Structured opportunities for reflection connected their project
to classroom lessons. As a culminating event, the students made a videotape
presentation of their work to educate the public about the importance of careful
land management.
10 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

CHARACTERISTIC 1:
Learning occurs in places and The world is before you and
focuses on issues that have you need not take it or leave it
meaning for students. as it was when you came in.
–James Baldwin
Meaningful Content: What We Know
One of the most important lessons
that community schools have extrapolated from learning theory,
neuroscience, and developmental theory is that students’ own
communities, whether rich or poor, provide a natural context for learning
that matters to children.13 Young people bring a vast store of prior
knowledge to school every day. It is both meaningful and emotionally
compelling to young people because it is based on their personal
experiences, needs, and aspirations—at home and in their neighborhoods
and communities.
According to a National Research Council report, schools success-
fully engage students when they “make the curriculum and instruction
relevant to adolescents’ experience, cultures, and long term goals, so that
students see some value in the high school curriculum.”14 Other research
confirms that students at all grade levels are more likely to pay attention
to material over a sustained period of time when the content and reason
for learning is compelling.15
We also know that linking learning acquired in the classroom to com-
munity settings requires that students distill information and use ab-
stract thinking skills. This kind of application of knowledge is similar to
rehearsal in that it enables young people to consolidate information and
appears to increase their ability to respond to novel situations—a hall-
mark of higher level learning.16
Meaningful Content: What Community-Based Learning Strategies Do

Community-based learning engages students by using their own commu-
nities as the source and focus of learning. The community provides a place
to learn by drawing on young people’s prior knowledge and exposing them
to a vast array of issues for study and action. Community-based learning
gives young people structured opportunities and the tools for physically
exploring their communities and interacting with many kinds of local ex-
perts—residents, business owners, members of government, artists, and
architects, among others. It gives them opportunities to apply new skills
and practice them in novel settings. Through community-based observa-
tion, discussion, and problem solving, students acquire both facts and
COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 11

CHARACTERISTIC 1: Meaningful Content—From Research to Practice
WE KNOW THAT… Ë communities as the source

and focus of learning
Ë Communities provide a
natural context for learning Ë Builds on students’ prior
knowledge and issues they
Ë Content should be meaningful
So Community-Based care about
and relevant Learning Strategies…
Ë Encourages coherent
Ë Using knowledge promotes
investigative and problem-
retention and transfer solving skills, which
complement and refine
standards-based skills
multiple perspectives against which to refine their existing knowledge

and skills. Teachers assist in this learning by paying attention to what
concerns students and by helping them develop coherent investigations
that use and refine standards-based academic skills. Teachers also connect
school day learning with learning in before and after school, community-
based, and work study programs and value these venues as important
opportunities for students to apply skills from across the curriculum.
Learning Where They Live
At the Lakeview Community Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, students in an after

school program decided to learn about their community—its buildings, resi-
dences, and history. Working in pairs, older students took disposable cameras on
expeditions through the neighborhood. They took photos of what they expected
to find—like parks, schools, homes, apartments, businesses—and other things
they had never noticed before, like too much traffic, ugly roadsides, junk cars,
and graffiti. Younger students also set out on their own tour equipped with com-
passes they made themselves. They used the compasses to find important land-
marks, and then drew detailed maps showing their locations. Afterward, both
groups shared their research and used it to design a 3-D model of their commu-
nity built out of Legos, cardboard boxes, Play Doh, Lincoln Logs, and strawberry
crates. Local architects, builders, and business people served as additional re-
sources, bringing in blueprints and models of other neighborhood buildings and
sharing stories about local history. As they worked, the students wanted to do
something about some of the problems they had seen. They decided to focus on
several nearby streets with the goal being to set an example for other residents
by picking up garbage and cleaning up graffiti. As an add-on project during
the winter, they planted seeds and grew them indoors. When spring came, they
planted flowers where everyone could see them.

CHARACTERISTIC 2:
Learning tasks are active and allow “Real education should consist
students voice and choice. of drawing the goodness and the
best out of our own students.
Voice and Choice: What We Know
What better books can there be
Feelings of control, choice, competence, than the book of humanity?”
and belonging are linked to learning.17 –César Chávez
Young people’s judgments about their
capacity to learn—their sense of self-
efficacy—is based on their perceived ability as well as the value they
attach to what must be learned.18
By the time students move from elementary to middle school, most
report wanting a much greater voice in classroom decisions.19 Their
teachers are more likely than elementary-level teachers to exercise tighter
control, however, giving them fewer choices.20 Not surprisingly, students
who feel less control over their learning are more anxious, experience
reduced motivation and creativity, and perform at lower levels.
Not all learners are word and number savvy—the kind of intelligence
most recognized and rewarded in academic settings. Traditional schools
provide little opportunity for students to use other aspects of their
natural intelligence, including spatial, interpersonal, and physical skills,
among others. In recent years, subjects that do recognize these kinds of
intelligence—for example, the arts and physical education—received
even fewer resources and less class time.21
Voice and Choice: What Community-Based Learning Strategies Do

Community-based learning makes young people active agents of their
own learning and gives them a voice in determining what and how they
learn. Students act as co-creators, rather than just consumers of knowl-
edge. Teachers act as guides or coaches, ensuring that student explora-
tions build in opportunities to acquire, practice, and apply content and
skills required by the curriculum. Community-based learning often
employs inquiry methods—like asking questions, making predictions,
and using summaries—to provide learning frameworks. However, stu-
dents are not only required to read, write, and listen; they are encouraged
to design their own approaches for collecting, analyzing, and acting on
information. Community-based strategies have the potential to draw on
the skills of every student. Students use physical activity, music, dance, as
well as interpersonal skills, sense of space, and love of the natural world
to explore their communities and to organize and present to others what
they have learned.

CHARACTERISTIC 2: Voice and Choice—From Research to Pracice
WE KNOW THAT... Ë Redefine students as co-

creators of knowledge
Ë Choice and sense of
competence are linked to Ë Redefine teachers as coaches
learning and guides
So Community-Based
Ë Students want more voice as Ë Draw on all the intellectual
Learning Strategies…
they move through the grades gifts of young people
Ë Students learn in different ways
Student Voices: Energizing and Sustaining Change
Community-based learning occurs throughout the community. In a variety

of Mississippi communities, a regional community organizing initiative called
Southern Echo is helping residents develop the information, skills, and organiza-
tion they need for effective citizen participation. Focusing on the issues facing
local school districts, the group consciously uses an intergenerational model.
Echo believes that when young people and adults work together, more energy is
created and more progress is sustained. Unlike many organizations where youth
groups operate apart from adult led work, Echo integrates the voices of young
people within their main efforts. Young people are welcomed and actively in-
volved in monitoring the content and flow of debate during meetings. They have
a say in what they want their community to look like and their input is valued in
planning sessions. As one Echo organizer puts it, “How can we sustain [our move-
ment] unless we stop treating youth as the future and not part of the present?”

CHARACTERISTIC 3:
Learning goals connect personal Serve—and hate will die unborn.
achievement to public purpose
–Langston Hughes
Connecting Personal and Public

Purpose: What We Know
In 2005, the Knight Foundation conducted a survey of nearly 100,000
high school students in more than 500 public and private high schools.
After reading students the exact text of the First Amendment, researchers
found that one in three students said its protection of religion, speech,
press, and assembly went “too far.” Half of all students thought that
newspapers should have government approval before publishing stories.22
These findings suggest that even when young people are aware of the
principles of democratic government they may not understand their
meaning well enough to choose or defend them. Across income groups,
many young people feel powerless to solve the problems found in their
communities or to have an effect on larger issues involving politics or
government.23 Subject matter learning—even exemplary achievement—
takes young people only part of the way toward developing a truly demo-
cratic self. According to the Education Commission of the States, schools
must help students “discover the personal and collective means—the
perspectives, strength of character, and values—they will need to sustain
our civilization.”24
Other research shows that young people are motivated by challeng-
ing, community-based problem solving. Participation in the issues and
success of their own communities helps young people develop a greater
“can-do” attitude, connects them to community norms and values, and
contributes to community cohesion. More positive attitudes occur when
they interact with others, develop skills, and perceive rewards as a re-
sult.25 When young people realize that their actions can improve the lives
of others, they gain confidence in managing their own lives, avoid high
risk behaviors, and become more engaged in school.26
Connecting Personal and Public Purpose: What Community-Based

Learning Strategies Do
In a difficult world, community-based learning encourages young people
to take hopeful action. Through action they recognize their ability to
control their own lives—as students, workers, family members, and citi-
zens. This view reflects Benjamin Franklin’s conviction that “an inclina-
tion joined with an ability to serve…should be the great aim and end of

CHARACTERISTIC 3: Personal and Public Purpose—From Research to Practice
WE KNOW THAT… Ë Help students identify and

respond to community needs
Ë Young people do not
and become aware of broader
always fully understand key social issues
democratic values
So Community-Based Ë Value multiple perspectives
Ë Many feel powerless
Learning Strategies… and view problem solving
Ë Participation can lead to a broadly
“can-do” attitude Ë Foster students’ intellectual
capacities and development
as citizens
all learning.” Civic learning explicitly provides

instruction and promotes participation in the First Amendment Schools:
principles and ideas essential to constitutional Educating for Freedom and Responsibility
democracy. These same intellectual capacities
and dispositions of good citizenship are implic- The First Amendment Schools: Educating for
itly conveyed in every community-based learn- Freedom and Responsibility® is sponsored by
ing strategy. the First Amendment Center and the Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Using community-based learning strategies, (ASCD). Currently, ninety schools from across the
students identify and respond to actual com- country comprise the First Amendment Schools
Network. Twenty have received grant funding
munity needs. Community cleanup efforts or that will support efforts to create laboratories
visits to hospitals, nursing homes, and home- for democratic freedom by integrating civic
less shelters allow students to assist others. education and community engagement through
The intellectual context in which these actions service learning, civic problem solving, and
shared decision making. Two examples of mem-
take place helps students reflect on broader ber schools’ activities and accomplishments are
social issues such as the environment, health described below.
and wellness, aging, or housing. Students are Every year students from Nursery Road Elemen-
expected to consider multiple, explanatory tary School (Columbia, South Carolina), a three year
frameworks for understanding community veteran of the network, conduct a voter registra-
needs; to respect diverse viewpoints; and to tion drive at the local high school with the goal of
enrolling over 300 eighteen-year-olds annually.
problem solve broadly. An emphasis on the
public good challenges young people to iden- Quest High School (Humble, Texas), another
First Amendment School and a National Service
tify needs and strengths—both in themselves Learning Leader School, implemented a compre-
and their community—and to find creative hensive service learning program over a decade
ago. Each week, all students spend three hours
ways for improving community conditions. at a community-based site working toward
personal goals developed for the year. These
experiences culminate in a senior year internship,
which includes the design and implementation
of a sustainable social action plan that benefits
the community.

CHARACTERISTIC 4:
Assessments provide
Educating the mind without
ongoing feedback
educating the heart is no
Assessment and Feedback: education at all.
What We Know –Aristotle
Assessment, through standardized test-

ing, is now a major element of school
reform efforts in every state. The intention of this focus is to measure
knowledge in core subjects, specifically math and reading. This informa-
tion provides feedback concerning academic performance for several
audiences, including students and parents, teachers, and schools.
Research on resiliency certainly points to the importance of clear,
consistent, and high expectations for helping young people overcome
difficulties and develop a stronger sense of personal autonomy.27 Other
research argues for a much broader and more immediate approach to
assessment. Current assessment methods are far too narrow to capture
the diverse ways in which students acquire and demonstrate learning and
provide too little feedback to students when they need it. This is impor-
tant because we know that students develop a sense of self-efficacy, a key
element in motivation, based, in part, on a variety of feedback factors,
including whether or not they think they will have the opportunity to
improve their performance enough to meet expected standards.28
According to Milbrey McLaughlin,29 a Stanford researcher, young
people want and need continuous, candid, and supportive feedback
about their performance—including concrete suggestions on how to
improve. Her work on the effectiveness of community-based youth
organizations also points to the importance of using culminating events
to recognize young people’s accomplishments. A formal presentation of
what was learned sharpens the learning experience. It requires students to
synthesize and distill what they learned and to make strategic decisions
about how best to convey their findings to specific audiences. They must
take risks and face the results. In the end, young people and adults learn
to see each other in new, more positive ways.
Assessment and Feedback: What Community-Based Learning

Strategies Do
Community-based learning strategies incorporate on-going assessment
so that young people can evaluate their own progress and the impact
of their work. A major principle of place-based education, for example,
states that:

CHARACTERISTIC 4: Assessment as Feedback—From Research to Practice
WE KNOW THAT… Ë Provide frequent formal and

informal feedback from peers
Ë Current assessments are
and adults
narrow and give little timely
feedback Ë Offer various ways to
So Community-Based demonstrate competence
Ë Motivation is affected by
Learning Strategies… and progress toward specific
accurate judgments about indicators
one’s ability to improve
Ë Make use of culminating
Ë Students want and need
events that require students to
frequent, honest feedback distill and present what they
have learned
“All participants—teachers, students, and community mem-

bers—expect excellent effort from each other and review their
joint progress regularly and thoughtfully. Multiple measures and
public input enlarge assessments of student performance.”30
Community-based learning assessments occur both formally and
informally in interactions between young people, their peers, and adults.
Multiple sources of information paint a comprehensive picture of stu-
dent abilities. Feedback comes in casual comments as students work
side-by-side with peers and adults and in more structured settings as stu-
dents share their work and learn to invite suggestions for improvement.
Honest reactions that build on students’ strengths are expected. Equally
important are opportunities for reflection, when students thoughtfully
analyze their own observations and experiences, for example, by keeping
a journal in which they write about what they learn.
Portfolios are often used to organize this feedback and to provide a
vehicle for demonstrating learning. The Rural School and Community
Trust, for example, developed a Portfolio-Based Assessment System that
uses examples of student work to chart student progress against specific
indicators. In addition to many different kinds of written expression,
portfolios may also include photographs, audio tapes, videos, student
made materials, and other evidence of standards-based learning.
Culminating events at the end of a particular unit of study (e.g., the
semester or an even longer period) often serve as a capstone for learning.
These events can include public performances that showcase students’
creative work, publications that distill student research and share impor-

tant findings with the community, or presentations to local government
or civic groups. All of these events require students to organize, distill,
and effectively package all that they have learned. They offer appropriate
challenges that not only strengthen student work but celebrate individual
and group accomplishments.
Promoting Assessment-Based Learning
In 2001, the Rural School and Community Trust, working with the Educational
Testing Service (ETS) and nine design teams from around the country, created a
portfolio-based assessment process. The design defined the essential ingredients
needed for a comprehensive assessment and incorporated them with methods
and tools for implementation. Besides strengthening place-based work, the pur-
pose of this in depth process was to create an alternative to the current, narrow,
and limiting assessment practices typically seen in public education.
For example, a matrix system helps teachers evaluate the depth of student learn-
ing and encourages the progression of student ownership and control from a
project’s beginning through advanced levels. It also focuses on specific assess-
ment practices. Using guided questions, each learning project can be evaluated
in ways that involve multiple assessment efforts across all participants and that
address how well assessment results facilitate learning.

CHARACTERISTIC 5:
If a child is to keep alive his Community partnerships
inborn sense of wonder, he needs increase the resources and
at least one adult who can share relationships available for
it, rediscovering with him the student learning and action.
joy, excitement and mystery of the
world we live in. Resources and Relationships:
–Rachel Carson
What We Know
Young people want to do well in life.
But many students don’t know how to
achieve their ambitious career and lifestyle goals.31 Students from fami-
lies with professional and personal connections in the community often
find that many doors are open to them, easing their transition to higher
education and careers. Those who live in socially and economically mar-
ginalized communities have limited access to such advantages. Limited
access to the benefits of the larger society may even cause some to react
negatively, seeing school success and upward mobility as tantamount to
group betrayal.32
Every young person, regardless of income or developmental level,
needs at least one caring adult in their life, someone who recognizes their
strengths and who communicates high expectations for future achieve-
ment. Young people also need access to “social capital”—the network
of social supports connecting them to shared values, information, guid-
ance, and contacts. Social connections provide assistance and feedback in
terms of setting goals, planning for the future, and making wise deci-
sions. Each individual needs to belong to a “community of practice”
where beliefs are shared, skills are learned, and collective resources and
interactions hold them together.
Finally, young people need opportunities to develop the “intellectual
muscle” needed to succeed in the world. According to a 2004 report of
the interdisciplinary National Study Group for the Affirmative Develop-
ment of Academic Ability, “students must not only acquire knowledge,
they must develop the ability to use knowledge, skills, and dispositions
to evaluate and efficiently solve novel problems if they are to become
what society needs—compassionate and independently critical thinking
members of humane communities.”33

CHARACTERISTIC 5: Resources and Relationships—From Research to Practice
WE KNOW THAT… Ë Build students’ social capital

by connecting them with
Ë Students need to set realistic,
caring adults on tasks they
achievable goals find mutually rewarding
Ë Not all students have equal
So Community-Based Ë Give students insight into
access to the benefits of
Learning Strategies… specific occupations and
society career pathways
Ë Every student needs support-
Ë Expand understanding and
ive relationships and “intel- support for students and for
lectual muscle” to succeed schools
personally and as a citizen
Resources and Relationships: What Community-Based Learning

Strategies Do
Community-based learning communicates to young people the im-
portance of their place in the community. It does this by reaching out
to community partners who, in turn, nurture young people’s desire to
contribute. Adults and young people learn to work together on tasks that
they find mutually rewarding. These purposeful activities help young
people acquire the skills, attitudes, and beliefs that more fully engage
them in community life and help them move from the periphery of their
community to its center.
Mentoring and other supportive relationships also help increase the
number of “go-to” people a young person can count on for guidance and
a helping hand. Responsible community work through service or intern-
ships gives students insight into specific occupations and career pathways.
With experience and through relationships, they begin to see the con-
nection between input and output, the consequences of compromised
quality, and the meaning of deadlines. They acquire a new appreciation
for teamwork, personal responsibility, and their own emerging skills.34
When offered as an integral part of the curriculum, and in the context
of supportive relationships, community-based learning allows students to
apply academic knowledge in multiple community settings. The recogni-
tion and sense of mastery students experience helps them push forward
their personal and civic goals. At the same time, these relationships
significantly influence the public’s understanding of the challenges that
schools face. This experience, in turn, creates a willingness on the part of
the community to share responsibility for young people’s success.

Making the Case for Community Safety
A service learning program in Waupin, Wisconsin, encouraged students to

explore their communities and gave them the tools to make their voices heard.
In addition, young people were introduced to the working lives of public of-
ficials and industry leaders. When teachers asked thirty sixth-graders to make
a list of community needs, students pointed out the absence of warning lights
at a nearby railroad crossing. While the adults privately doubted that authori-
ties would take any action, they supported the students’ efforts. After collecting
evidence and consulting with a city council member, the students presented
their case in writing to the railroad commissioner. He vetoed putting up crossing
lights, but he okayed a traffic study. A year later, things began to happen: a series
of warning signs was installed and physical obstructions around the crossing
were removed.

CHAPTER 3
Outcomes of Community-Based Learning
Intelligence plus character—that is the goal

of true education.
–Martin Luther King, Jr.
A
growing body of evidence suggests that community-
based learning strategies add up to much more than
another laundry list of “good ideas.” While research on
community-based learning is not yet abundant, findings
show that these strategies help students and schools achieve
academic, civic and moral, social and personal, and work-related goals.
Here are just a few examples:
Academic Outcomes
Ë A comprehensive evaluation conducted of nine school sites in three
New England states, which were participating in the Community-
Based School Environmental Education Project, a place-based strategy,
provides strong evidence of intended outcomes. The most immediate
results showed growth in teacher enthusiasm and skill and observed
increases in student engagement in learning, academic achievement,
and knowledge about the social and natural environment.35
Ë Data collected in forty-eight schools since 1996, using the “environ-
ment as an integrating context for learning” (referred to as the EIC
model), show that EIC students in 92 percent of schools academi-
cally outperformed their peers in traditional programs as measured by
standardized tests. Classroom behavior problems were reduced by as
much as 95 percent in some cases and overall attendance increased.36
Ë Several studies show that inclusion of work-based learning strategies
promotes selection of challenging classes, improves attendance, and
reduces dropout rates. High risk students who enrolled in work-based
learning in career academies were less likely to be chronically absent
from school than students in a randomly assigned control group.37
Among African American and Hispanic youth, participation in a
work-based learning program was linked to increases in future selec-

tion of science and math courses.38 Other results show that work-
based learning participants are more likely to attend school and earn
grade point averages at least as high, if not higher, than comparable
other students.39 They are also more likely to graduate on time.40
Civic and Moral Outcomes

Ë A study of the Colorado Learn and Serve program evaluated 761 stu-
dents in thirty-five classrooms, approximately half of whom participat-
ed in service learning; the other half did not. Compared to non-par-
ticipants, students who engaged in service learning showed statistically
significant increases in measures of connection to community, connec-
tion to school, and civic responsibility.41
Ë Kids Voting, USA, is a school-based program that integrates lessons
about the history of voting and its connection to democratic govern-
ment with mock voting experiences. Rigorous evaluation showed posi-
tive impacts for all students, and low income students in particular,
on measures describing awareness of the news, discussion of current
events with parents and family members, and content knowledge.42
Ë Another study looked at mostly African American eleventh-graders
who were required to serve at least twenty hours in a homeless shelter
as part of a social justice course. The evaluation looked for evidence
of student engagement in political–moral topics, namely, stereotypes,
black identity, moral responsibility, and political agency. In focus
groups, student essays, and follow up interviews these topics came up
repeatedly. These students were able to take account of several differ-
ent perspectives—their personal experience, the opinions of others,
and classroom and media information—to thoughtfully address the
complexity of these topics.43
Personal and Social Outcomes

Ë In an analysis of over 250 primary prevention program evaluations,
with a sample size of at least 100 in combined treatment and control
groups, participation in service learning appeared to have the strongest
influence in reducing teen pregnancy rates compared to other inter-
ventions. Development of a positive personal relationship and a sense
of increased autonomy, competence, and empowerment while in-
volved in these programs were suggested as possible factors that helped
young people avoid risky behavior.44

Ë Research suggests that participation in work-based learning contributes
positively to general youth development by increasing students’ confi-
dence as skill levels improve in a variety of areas.45 Time spent with car-
ing adults also boosts achievement. Students who spent more time with
adult mentors at the workplace had higher grade point averages and
better attendance than those who spent less time with adult mentors.46
Ë Persuasive findings from major national studies show that service learn-
ing is associated with significant increases on pre- and post-test com-
parisons for several self-report measures, including competence and self
esteem, acceptance of diversity, and protection against risky behavior.47
Work Outcomes
Weathering the Storm
Ë Participation in work-based learning helps
students learn job readiness and job specific At King Middle School in Portland, Maine,
skills. Some evidence also suggests a positive environment-based education was introduced
effect of such participation on future hiring to better meet the learning needs of a school
struggling with academic achievement. A school
and wages.48 For example, a study of partici- wide curriculum was designed around units of
pants in a Maryland Career and Technology study called learning expeditions. Each one was
Education program one year after gradua- designed to pursue environmental themes that
tion found that participants reported higher engaged students while focusing on standards-
based content. One such unit called “Rock the
wages, more hours of work, and greater House Geology,” used skills in science, technol-
connection between their high school courses ogy, social studies, and language arts to explore
and their current work and studies than how physical geography shapes and affects the
did non-participants.49 Employers who hire local community. Another called “Weathering the
Storm” called on the same skills to study climate.
students involved in work-based learning say It culminated in a public exhibit on the effects
that they require less training, work better and history of storms on the New England coast.
in teams, and have better work ethics than This venture into community-based learning
other new hires.50 helped the school and its students weather their
own academic storms—70 percent of students
Ë Evidence also shows that service learning has a qualify for free or reduced lunch. Since imple-
menting community-based learning in 1993,
positive effect on job and career related skills
the school has seen discipline problems cut in
and aspirations, including planning ability, half and attendance increase. Students are more
interviewing skills, and a greater desire for motivated and show marked improvement in
continued education.51 Students who partici- academic performance. State standardized tests
scores improved in all areas, including reading,
pate in service learning are more likely statis-
writing, math, science, health, social studies, and
tically to pursue personally satisfying careers arts and humanities.
and/or careers of benefit to others.52

CHAPTER 4
Moving the Agenda Forward
Learning is not attained by chance;

it must be sought for with ardor
and attended to with diligence.
–Abigail Adams
O
ur communities are rich in the resources and expertise
needed to implement community-based learning strat-
egies. Advocates and practitioners of community-based
learning are already hard at work engaging students by
reconnecting living and learning. At community cen-
ters, in before and after school programs, work-study programs, and dur-
ing the regular school day, their efforts help schools and students achieve
academic, social, work, and civic goals and improve their communities.
By talking about these different models as a single approach under the
rubric of community-based learning, the Coalition believes that the com-
bined benefits can be communicated more broadly and implemented
more systemically in the curriculum, both during and after school.
To really light this fire, the Coalition for Community Schools believes
that advocates and practitioners of these various models must work col-
laboratively and take more intentional and overt steps together. Students
and parents, practitioners and advocates, school districts, teacher educa-
tion and professional development programs, policy makers, higher edu-
cation, community-based organizations, and institutions must take joint
action. Below we suggest next steps for making the connection between
living and learning a necessary component of contemporary education.
Magnify Student Voice

Ë Students: Make Your Voice Heard. Community-based learning is about
students having a voice in their own education. Building on this princi-
ple, and in cooperation with teachers and community mentors, young
people should bring their voice into the education policy arena. In this
way they become advocates for policy and curricular changes in ways
that can put community-based learning at the heart of school reform.

Ë Policy Makers: Listen to Students. Listen to students and teachers
engaged in community-based learning. There is no substitute. Policy
makers who take the time to listen—governors and their aides, state
legislators, local elected officials, state education agency officials, and
leaders from state and local agencies involved with health, environ-
ment, natural resources, and community development—get the big
picture. They come away with a firsthand understanding of just how
community-based learning helps student learn and how it can help
their organization achieve its goals.
Build Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

Ë Community-Based Learning Advocates and Practitioners. People
and organizations from different community-based learning areas must
continue to promote this learning approach in school districts, commu-
nities, states, and at the federal level. If partners build and pursue a com-
mon agenda, their broad-based advocacy can change policy and practice.
Ë Community-Based Providers and Schools. Public and private com-
munity organizations with expertise in community-based learning
need to build partnerships with schools, and schools must reach out
into the community. To have the greatest possible impact on cur-
riculum and instruction, community-based providers of learning-rich
content need to describe what they do in standards-based language
and to show clearly how it supports student learning. They also should
demonstrate its positive impact on the community and on the com-
munity’s support for public education. Schools must seek mutually
beneficial relationships with community partners who have expertise
to share and publicly recognize the assets they bring to student learn-
ing and civic development.
Ë State Level Leaders. In too many states, various strategies comprising
a community-based learning approach are viewed as separate and dis-
crete activities; they operate at the margins of state efforts to promote
student learning. People managing environmental education, service
learning, work-based learning, and other related approaches have little
interaction with one another. Thus, the opportunity for people to
see the common dimensions of these pedagogies and their potential
impact on student learning is diminished significantly. State Depart-
ments of Education should bring together staff who work in different
community-based learning areas to learn about each other’s work and
to develop a coordinated plan for implementing these strategies. Local
practitioners should also be brought into these conversations.

Strengthen Professional Development
Ë District Leaders. Districts can facilitate innovation in community-
based learning through professional development for principals and
teachers, including peer-to-peer conversations and interaction with
experts in the community. Professional development can help princi-
pals appreciate the value of community-based learning strategies, not
only in terms of student performance but also as a vehicle for engaging
the community with the school. It also will give teachers the ability to
implement these approaches and enable teachers already skilled in this
work to mentor and support their peers.
Ë Higher Education. Most teacher preparation programs overlook the
role of community in educating our children. Community-based
learning strategies offer a concrete mechanism for helping teach-
ers learn how to make those connections. Professional preparation
programs must expand their focus to give teachers the know how to
do community-based learning. Preparation programs for principals
should ensure that school leaders understand, value, and know how to
work within the community and integrate community-based learning
within the curriculum.
Ë State Level Leaders. States should examine their existing professional
development activities and find ways to emphasize community-based
learning in state supported programs.
Expand the Use of Community-Based Learning in the Curriculum

Ë School District Leaders. In school districts, community-based learn-
ing is often implemented as a special course, and is not fully integrated
into the school curriculum. Community-based learning has the most
substantive impact on student learning when fully integrated across
the curriculum. School districts should review what community-based
learning programs are already happening, during and after school. The
review should involve listening to students and teachers and looking
at the impact of these approaches in terms of student motivation and
engagement, student performance, and student civic development.
Districts can use that experience, and the growing number of stan-
dards driven community-based learning curricula, to expand the use
of these pedagogies as part of their effort to help all students succeed.
Ë Curriculum Development Organizations. Curriculum development
organizations must begin to make more intentional efforts to widely
disseminate information about community-based learning to curricu-

lum and instructional leaders in local school districts and state educa-
tion agencies.
Ë After School Leaders and Practitioners. Community-based learn-
ing represents almost all of the characteristics found in effective youth
development programs. It offers enriching learning and development
experiences that help young people academically, civically, and socially.
As such, it is an ideal strategy for community-based organizations
seeking to address the challenge of responding to the academic con-
cerns of schools while maintaining an enriching youth development
thrust. Community-based organizations should aggressively incorpo-
rate community-based learning into after school time and link that
work to the school day.
Strengthen Policy
Ë School Board Members. School boards should establish policy that
encourages community-based learning across the curriculum as a strat-
egy for improving student learning, both throughout the school day
and in after school programs.
Ë State Level Leaders. States should have policies in place that en-
courage the integration of community-based learning to address the
requirements of No Child Left Behind. Policies should promote mul-
tiple assessments of student performance, enhance teacher and princi-
pal preparation, and develop standards that coordinate the use of state
funds for these purposes.
The Unique Role of Higher Education

Ë Tap Faculty and Student Capacity. More institutions of higher
education need to implement academically based community service
courses—credit courses that have tenured faculty teaching undergrad-
uate and graduate students who then work with teachers and students
in schools on real community problems. The thrust toward volunteer-
ism and service has grown significantly on college campuses in the past
decade; academically based community service deepens those efforts,
mobilizing the assets of higher education to both improve student
learning and strengthen the communities where the institutions reside.

Expand Support for Research
Ë Government and Foundation Leaders: Invest in Research. Federal
and state government and private foundations should support more
funding of research on community-based learning approaches.
Ë Researchers and Practitioners: Share Findings and Experience. By
sharing research findings, survey results, and evaluation tools, those
researchers and practitioners who work in academically based com-
munity service, civic education, environmental education, place-based
learning, service learning, and work-based learning can add ammuni-
tion to their argument for community-based learning. They can also
add credibility to their findings through replication of other studies.
Conclusion
When students engage in learning, they are more likely to care deeply,
work harder, and achieve their goals. Drawing on the assets of a com-
munity—its history, culture, resources, and challenges—can help schools
build citizens while infusing academic course work with meaning and
relevance. Rather than diluting the school curriculum, community-based
learning strategies increase the intensity of learning and the likelihood
that young people will transfer knowledge and skills to new situations.
By fostering student interest in their own communities, these strategies
sow the seeds of lifelong learning. When students see themselves as citi-
zens, they take responsibility for what happens to their neighborhoods,
communities, and country. The end result? “Learning that lasts” well
beyond the last test and a commitment to service that lasts a lifetime.

APPENDIX A
Theoretical Foundations of
Community-Based Learning
Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.

–W.B. Yeats
E
ngagement is “a psychological process, specifically the atten-
tion, interest, investment, and effort students expend in the
work of learning.” Signals of student engagement include
staying on task, intensity of concentration, as well as school
attendance. Emotionally engaged learners show curiosity,
enthusiasm, and optimism about their potential performance. Intellectu-
ally engaged learners understand the importance of what they are learn-
ing. Students who are engaged are more likely to earn higher grades and
test scores. They are less likely to be disruptive, have poor attendance, or
dropout of school.53
If engagement refers to the effort that students expend in learning, what
exactly do we know about the process of learning and the factors that
cause young people to invest their best efforts? In this section we explore
insights from learning theory, neuroscience, and developmental research.
Knowledge is constructed and influenced by social interaction.

The name of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget is familiar to most educators.
His seminal work introduced the idea that learning is an active process.
Most educators and learning theorists accept the fact that learning is
constructed; more recent work has focused on how this happens.
According to Piaget,54 the child constructs learning through a combi-
nation of biological development and experience. The child’s ability to
process information is dependent on his or her level of biological matu-
rity; it qualitatively changes as the child moves through distinct devel-
opmental stages. In early childhood, the child responds to the world in
concrete, literal terms; during the middle school years, the child becomes
capable of understanding and manipulating more abstract information.

Within each stage, and without conscious thought, the developing
child creates increasingly sophisticated conceptual schemas or “mental
maps” in order to understand and respond to sensory information. When
new information does not fit easily into existing structures, the mental
landscape is altered as the child creates a new structure or makes existing
structures more complex. Learning is facilitated by situations that require
children to both assimilate and accommodate new information.
Social cognition theory55 emphasizes the primary role of culture in
knowledge construction. It argues that culture provides the child with
both the content of thought and the tools for thinking about it. In other
words, cognitive development occurs as children acquire information
from the surrounding culture, typically processing it, directly or indi-
rectly, through interactions with a teacher, parent or friends who transfer
knowledge from that culture. As a result of this interaction, knowledge is
shaped as children increase their understanding of the world.
Situated learning theorists56 also hold that social interaction plays a
major role in constructing knowledge. Learning arises out of a specific
activity, context, and culture. It occurs in a “community of practice”
organized around certain beliefs, behaviors, and knowledge. Beginning
learners remain at the periphery of such groups until they begin to learn
through interaction and collaboration with others and acquire the group’s
core knowledge. Eventually, their growing expertise brings them to the
group’s center. Learning is situated in the places where young people
spend time and in the relationships they have with those around them.
Memory—the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information—

is influenced by experience, prior learning, and practice.
Research in the neurosciences has focused attention on brain function.
Memory in particular plays a key role and suggests a more precise way
to think about learning. Memory is the cognitive process that allows
us to acquire, store, and retrieve useful information. As the families of
Alzheimer patients painfully discover, without memory, we cease to
know—and be—who we were.
Researchers concur that memory is an enormously complex process
that simultaneously involves many parts of the brain.57 Brain cells called
neurons have the ability to communicate with each other and form
networks by means of electric and chemical signals. Most scientists agree
that experience creates and changes the way these connections are made
and, therefore, affects how and what we learn.

At every moment, sensory stimuli of all kinds constantly bombard the
human brain. Several factors affect how the brain decides what informa-
tion it pays attention to and remembers. Novelty, intensity, and move-
ment often cause initial interest but, alone, they are usually not enough
to sustain interest.
Two other factors are much more important: meaning and emotion.
When incoming stimuli are familiar in some way, that is, when the brain
determines it can link them to what it already knows, attention is sus-
tained. Meaningless information is dropped. Information that has strong
emotional content is also likely to be perceived and retained. The brain
is highly responsive to information that signals danger and to social cues
that can promote wellbeing; it also releases neurochemicals in response to
emotionally charged content that makes this content easier to remember.
Perceptions, shaped by prior knowledge, are translated into working
memory and can be consciously thought about, acted on, and combined
with other knowledge. This kind of active rehearsal, or practice, over
time, appears to strengthen the neural connections needed to consolidate
information in long term memory. Based on these insights, learning is
most likely to be facilitated by activities that have meaning, emotional
content, and offer opportunities for students to think, talk about, and
actively practice what they are learning.58
The motivation to learn is affected by personal judgments

about one’s abilities and the perceived importance and
attainability of the learning goal.
Research on motivation investigates the processes that instigate, direct,
and sustain human action.59 Engagement refers to the quality of atten-
tion and effort that young people invest in learning. Motivation focuses
on what “turns on” that intensity of engagement. One type of motiva-
tional process is self-efficacy. Considerable attention has been given to
self-concept—perceptions of self-worth that arise from an individual’s
experiences in the world and evaluations received from people that an
individual cares about. In contrast, self-efficacy refers to an individual’s
reasoned judgments about his or her capacity to learn at specific levels. It
is based on what the individual perceives as his or her personal ability to
be, the comparisons he or she makes with others in his or her group, and
the importance the individual attaches to what he or she is to learn.
Self-efficacy is a changeable construct affected by interactions with fam-
ily, peers, and school. Stimulating home environments, headed by adults
who encourage persistence and effort, allow children to develop strong

self-efficacy beliefs. Peer group interactions provide models of reasonable
standards and measures against which young people can evaluate their own
abilities—comparisons that either increase or decrease positive self-efficacy.
As children progress through the grades, their sense of self-efficacy
tends to decline.60 Various school practices seem to contribute to this
fact, including an emphasis on ability goals rather than task goals, norm-
referenced grading, and less teacher attention in middle and high school.
A variety of research shows that a task-goal orientation is correlated with
more positive motivation and performance outcomes, including greater
confidence, persistence, cognitive processing, and achievement.61 Stu-
dents who are task-goal-oriented see the purpose of learning as some-
thing they are doing for themselves, to increase their own understanding
and sense of mastery. Ability-goal-oriented students define themselves in
reference to others and are motivated in the same manner—high grades
demonstrate aptitude. Learning can promote positive student self-effi-
cacy when activities and assessments encourage problem solving, provide
opportunities to improve performance through practice and feedback,
and involve collaborative rather than competitive work.
Individuals learn in different ways

Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intel-
ligences counters the view of intelligence as a single trait or set of traits
that some people have more of or less than compared to others.62 He ar-
gues that individuals have a number of ways in which they comprehend,
understand, and benefit from experience. Learners produce knowledge
by using words, logical reasoning, physical movement, spatial awareness,
interpersonal skills, personal reflection, and responding to the natural
world. Everyone has a personal blend of learning styles with some path-
ways more “turned on” than others. All these pathways can be developed
under the right circumstances. Learning can be facilitated by activities
that allow children to learn in harmony with their own unique minds.63
Barriers to learning can be mitigated by protective factors

Large numbers of children are at risk of school failure because of seri-
ous problems, including poverty, learning disabilities, and disengagement
from learning, among others. Many such children, however, do not fail
in school or in life. Resiliency research focused attention on the combi-
nation of temperament and circumstance that helps children surmount
difficult obstacles. Resilient children appear to be socially competent and
able to sustain relationships; they know how to solve problems in their

daily lives; and they have a sense of personal autonomy, purpose, and hope
for the future. While some children seem more disposed to these character-
istics than others, resiliency research suggests that the presence of protective
factors in family, school, and community can foster resilient behavior
in all children. Over time, these protective factors can reverse the trend
toward negative outcomes. Learning is facilitated when children have:
• A caring and supportive relationship with at least one person
• Consistent, clear, and high expectations communicated to them
• Ample opportunities for participation and meaningful contribution.64
Effective learning environments intentionally connect home,

school, and community.
Positive youth development theory has re-evaluated how adults view
young people and the challenges they face. At its center is awareness of
young people’s strengths. Positive growth is most likely to occur in an
environment that recognizes and builds on young peoples’ abilities rather
than simply working to prevent weaknesses. In Karen Pittman’s words,
“problem-free is not fully prepared.”65
Positive youth development refers to an ongoing process in which
meaningful content, practice, and opportunities for active participation
allow young people build the skills, attitudes, knowledge, and experi-
ences that equip them for life. It is also a deliberate approach for working
with young people that can be implemented in various settings.
Its practices are grounded in the tenants of developmental theory—be-
ginning with the notion that young people develop at various rates along
several dimensions—intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically.66
It recognizes that supportive environments promote growth in all these
areas. Following psychologist Abraham Maslow’s67 well known hierarchy,
it calls for learning environments that address young people’s basic needs
so they can successfully meet higher order challenges. It acknowledges
Urie Bronfenbrenner’s68 understanding that young people experience the
world in concentric, expanding circles of family, school, community, and
the larger society. Effective learning environments find ways to intention-
ally connect all of the systems that affect young people’s lives—home,
school, and community.

APPENDIX B
Community-Based Learning Approaches
Academically Based Community Service

Overview
Academically based community service (ABCS) is designed to bring
about structural community improvement that is rooted in, and intrinsi-
cally linked, to university teaching and research. ABCS connects local
public schools, communities of faith, and community organizations with
university faculty and students to help solve critical community issues in
a variety of areas, such as the environment, health, nutrition, arts, and
education. Its primary goal is to contribute to community well being
through effective public schools, strong community organizations, and
community economic development.
At the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partner-
ships, over 160 courses from diverse schools and disciplines within the
University have engaged faculty and both graduate and undergradu-
ate students in joint service, learning, and research projects with public
schools in West Philadelphia. During the 2004–2005 academic year
more than 2,000 university students learned about and helped find ways
to strengthen the community surrounding their school. Along with Arts
and Science faculty and students, ABCS also brings faculty and students
from the professional schools—Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine,
and Social Work—to develop health promotion programs as well as to
provide direct services for the schools’ students and their families.
Key Principles
ABCS courses use hands on, real world problem solving to help students
develop as participating citizens in a democratic society. Building on
the insights of twentieth-century educational philosopher, John Dewey,
ABCS students learn by doing and learn from service as they contribute
to their communities. The community school is where the integrated,
K–16, real world, problem solving approach of ABCS begins to address
community needs. Learning, research, and action continue past the regu-
lar school day through well integrated, after school programs.

The impact of ABCS is sustained because university-wide resources are
strategically aggregated and deployed in collaboration with community
institutions that create and sustain long term change, such as the public
schools and other community partners. Coordination between university
and partner schools creates an integrated K–16 curricula with a problem
solving approach to learning in which young people both contribute to
their communities and benefit from a broad set of opportunities, servic-
es, and supports. The result is a sustained, collaborative, and democratic
mode of learning that spans university and community.
Civic Learning
Overview
Civic learning refers to a variety of teaching and learning methods that
enable young people to participate in and sustain democracy. A primary
impetus for establishing public schools in the first place, civic learning
may be approached as a “field of practice” or as an interlinking set of
strategies across many subfields. It aims to equip students with the knowl-
edge, skills, and dispositions required for effective civic engagement.
Civic knowledge includes age-appropriate understanding of key prin-
ciples, facts, events, and issues surrounding our democracy and gov-
ernment. Civic skills build the intellectual capacity to understand and
critique various points of view as well as the participatory skills necessary
to take part in the civic process. Civic dispositions foster, among other
things, students’ tolerance and respect for others, sense of social responsi-
bility, personal efficacy, and sense of connection to others.
Key Principles
Civic learning stresses approaches that are engaging, relevant to students’
personal lives, and interactive. The programs, policies, and practices of
civic learning should:
• Explicitly advocate for students’ civic and political engagement
• Reflect a deliberate and intentional focus on civic outcomes
• Provide active learning experiences so that students make
connections between academic learning and civic involvement
• Emphasize ideas and concepts that are essential to constitutional
democracy
• Enable students to see connections between democratic concepts
and their own lives.

Environmental Education
Overview
Environmental education (EE) is a multidisciplinary subject and a process
for teaching and learning environmental science principles and social im-
pacts, skills for investigating environmental local and regional issues and
problems, and how to apply acquired knowledge to resolve those issues.
Environment for some EE educators includes not only the natural world
but the “built” world as well, including its history, culture, and concerns.
EE supports both academic learning and student development and occurs
in 60 percent of all K–12 schools and in more than 15,000 community set-
tings. As a primary engaged learning strategy, EE offers the following benefits:
• Conveys core knowledge of the natural environment and
supplements many science, social studies, and language arts courses.
• Provides structure to community service and service learning
programming through projects like stream restoration, tree
planting, recycling, and water conservation.
• Offers schools and individuals an abundance of stimulating learning
settings and connection to a network of tens of thousands of
informal educators who offer useful additions to classroom learning.
• Strengthens after school programming because EE has developed
so many high quality, easy-to-use, standards-aligned curricula and
teacher training programs.
Key Principles
• Teach environmentally significant ecological concepts and their
environmental interrelationships
• Promote in depth knowledge of environmental issues
• Provide opportunities for learners to achieve enough environmental
awareness to encourage positive changes in personal behavior
• Teach issue analysis and investigation skills and provide the time to
practice them
• Teach the citizenship skills needed to participate in issue remedia-
tion and build in the time to use them
• Provide instructional settings that increase students’ sense of per-
sonal responsibility and internal locus of control

Place-Based Education
Overview
In place-based education, the community provides the context for learn-
ing, student work focuses on community needs and interests, and com-
munity members serve as resources and partners in every aspect of teach-
ing and learning. Following in the tradition of progressive education and
a pedagogical approach commonly called “experiential learning,” this
multidisciplinary learning strategy is rooted in what is local—the unique
history, environment, culture, and economy of a particular place. By
pairing real world relevance with intellectual rigor, this local focus has the
power to engage students academically while promoting genuine citizen-
ship and preparing people to live well wherever they choose.
Key Principles
Place-based learning, as defined by the Rural School and Community
Trust, is based on the following principles:
• The school and community actively collaborate to make the local
place a good one in which to learn, work, and live.
• Students do sustained academic work that draws upon and contrib-
utes to the place in which they live. They practice new skills and
responsibilities, serving as scholars, workers, and citizens in their
community.
• The community supports students and their adult mentors in these
new roles. Enthusiasm for place-based education spreads as the
learning deepens, steadily involving more students, teachers, admin-
istrators, and community participants.
• Schools mirror the democratic values they seek to instill, arranging
their resources so that every child is known well and every child’s
participation is needed and wanted, regardless of ability.
• Decisions about the education of the community’s children are
shared, informed by expertise both in and outside school.
• All participants, including teachers, students, and community
members, expect excellent effort from each other and review their
joint progress regularly and thoughtfully. Multiple measures and
public input enlarge assessments of student performance.

Service Learning
Overview
Service learning is a curriculum-based teaching method that engages
students by connecting community service to academic studies. It is now
practiced in about a third of the nation’s public schools. Service learning
brings learning to life and engages students in education. High quality,
service learning experiences prepare students for college, career, commu-
nity stewardship, and civic responsibility.
Key Principles
The essential elements of high quality service learning, according to
Youth Service California, include the following:
Integrated Learning
• The service learning project has clearly articulated knowledge, skill,
or value goals that arise from broader classroom or school goals.
• The service informs the academic learning content, and the academ-
ic learning content informs the service.
• Life skills learned outside the classroom are integrated back into
classroom learning.
High Quality Service

• The service responds to an actual community need that is recog-
nized by the community.
• The service is age appropriate and well organized.
• The service is designed to achieve significant benefits for students
and community.
Collaboration
• The service learning project is a collaboration among as many part-
ners as is feasible: students, parents, community-based organization
staff, school administrators, teachers, and recipients of service.
• All partners benefit from the project and contribute to its planning.
Student Voice
• Students participate actively in choosing and planning the service
project.
• Students participate actively in planning and implementing the
reflection sessions, evaluation, and celebration.
• Students participate actively in taking on roles and tasks that are
appropriate to their age.

Civic Responsibility
• The service learning project promotes students’ responsibility to
care for others and to contribute to the community.
• By participating in the service learning project, students understand
how they can impact their community.
Reflection
• Reflection establishes connections between students’ service
experiences and the academic curriculum.
• Reflection occurs before, during, and after the service learning project.
Evaluation
• All the partners, especially students, are involved in evaluating the
service learning project.
• The evaluation seeks to measure progress toward the learning and
service goals of the project.
Work-Based Learning
Overview
Work-based learning, also referred to as “school-to-work” (STW), is a
teaching and learning strategy that helps young people gain important
academic and employability skills; spend time with adults in a mentor-
ing, role model situation; and have substantive exposure to careers. The
most recent iteration of work-based learning began in the late 1980s in re-
sponse to increased international competition. Policy makers and educa-
tors in the United States sought to both help high school students better
understand the high skilled, high-tech, and competitive world of work
and careers and to increase the rigor and relevance of academic work.
Recent educational reform efforts have worked to define standards
across the curriculum and new attention is being given to the importance
of rigor, relevance, and relationships. In today’s conversations about high
schools, work-based learning is viewed as an important strategy for engag-
ing young people and connecting them to important networks of support
and information. Career Academies, Talent Development with Career
Academies, High Schools that Work, Tech Prep, and career clusters are
all models that include some form of work-based learning. Apprentice-
ship is another example, primarily seen at the post-secondary level.

Key Principles
Work-based learning promotes high standards of learning and perfor-
mance for all young people by:
• Incorporating industry valued standards that help inform curricula
• Providing opportunities for contextual and applied learning
• Expanding opportunities for all young people and exposing them to
a broad array of career opportunities
• Directly tying lessons to classroom learning
• Connecting young people with supportive adults, mentors, and
other role models
• Providing program continuity between K–12 and post-secondary
education and training.

APPENDIX C
Resource Organizations and People
American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) coordinate, compile, and utilize information
Betsy Brand, Director to strengthen and enlarge the intended impact
Sarah Pearson, Senior Program Associate of their activities. Their work typically involves
program design and strategic planning, evalua-
American Youth Policy Forum actively seeks tion, and philanthropic industry analysis.
to create opportunities for communication, http://blueprintrd.com/
learning, understanding, and trust among
professionals, at all levels, working on issues af-
Campaign for the Civic Mission of
fecting youth. Through these endeavors, more
Schools Council for Excellence in
services and life opportunities can be provided
Government
to youth.
http://www.aypf.org/ David Skaggs, Executive Director
Kenneth Holdsman, Deputy Director
Antioch New England Institute (ANEI) The Council for Excellence in Government
David Sobel, Director works to improve the performance of govern-
Teacher Certification Program ment at all levels, to increase citizen confidence
in the government, and to encourage broader
Antioch New England Institute is the nonprofit civic participation.
consulting and community outreach arm of An- http://excelgov.org/
tioch New England Graduate School. ANEI
provides training programs and resources (U.S.
Center for Community School
and international) in leadership development,
Partnerships
place-based education, nonprofit management,
environmental education and policy, smart Ira Harkavy, Director
growth, and public administration. Cory Bowman, Associate Director
http://www.anei.org/ Joann Weeks, Associate Director
The Center for Community Partnerships fully
Association for Supervision and utilizes the University of Pennsylvania’s assets
Curriculum Development (ASCD) to benefit the city of Philidelphia, the uni-
Diane Berreth, Deputy Executive Director versity, and the community. This is achieved
through programs that directly connect the
ASCD is a community of educators that university to the community, such as academi-
aims to improve learning and teaching for all cally based community service.
students by advocating for sound policies and http://www.upenn.edu/ogcpa/ccp.html
sharing best practices. ASCD addresses a broad
range of learning and teaching issues such as
Chicago High School Redesign Initiative
professional development, educational leader-
at the Chicago Community Trust
ship, and capacity building.
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/index.jsp/ Judith Murphy, Deputy Director
The Chicago Community Trust is a communi-
Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. ty foundation focused on making the Chicago
Jack Chin, Senior Analyst metropolitan area a great place to live, work,
and raise a family. The Chicago Trust partners
Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. is a with organizations ranging from neighborhood
consulting firm that helps philanthropic socialservice agencies to nationally acclaimed
institutions stratgeically think about ways to

museums and educational institutions to pro- This involves advocating for people whose
mote the wellbeing of the community. access to excellent education has been impeded
http://cct.org/index.html or denied.
http://www.lab.brown.edu/
Citizen Schools
Adrian Haugabrook, Executive Director of Forum for Youth Investment
Public Policy, Alliances, and Innovation Merita Irby, Deputy Director
The organization connects middle school Nicole Yohalem, Program Director
students with adult volunteers to provide them The mission of the Forum for Youth Invest-
with skills they will need to be effective lead- ment is to make sure that all young Americans
ers in the twenty-first century. This national are ready to meet the challenges of post-sec-
network, which exposes students to experi- ondary education, life, and work. To achieve
ential learning, promotes student acquisition this goal, a set of supports, opportunities, and
of leadership skills that will help them be services must be made available so that they
successful academically and become leaders are able to prosper from and contribute to the
in their professional lives as well as in their community.
communities. http://forumforyouthinvestment.org/
http://citizenschools.org/index.cfm
Funders Forum on Education and the
Corporation for National and Environment
Community Service, Jack Chin, Consultant
Learn and Serve America
The Funders’ Forum on Environment and
Amy Cohen, Director Education (F2E2) is an informal network of
Robert Davidson, Senior Advisor grant makers interested in environment and
to the Chief Operating Officer place-based approaches to education that con-
The Corporation for National Service sees its tribute to positive student outcomes, academic
role as engendering the culture of citizenship, achievement, personal development, as well as
service, and responsibility in America. They are environmental literacy at the K–12 and post-
agents of change and believe that every Ameri- secondary levels. The underlying assumption is
can posses the talent and capacity to give. that young people, duly educated and inspired,
http://www.nationalservice.org/about/programs/ will become active participants in the life of
learnandserve.asp their communities, working to solve social and
environmental problems.
Earth Force http://www.charityadvan-
tage.com/f2e2/AboutUs.asp
Charles Tampio, President
Earth Force encourages students to take an Gardner Center for Youth and their
active role in improving the environment Communities
and their communities, now and in the years
to come. This is achieved by providing the Milbrey McLaughlin, Director
necessary supports and training to educators in The John W. Gardner Center for Youth and
programs that provide students with leadership their Communities focuses on youth develop-
roles in community action projects. ment and learning. All community members
http://www.earthforce.org/ need to work together to create communities
that provide growth opportunities for youth
Education Alliance at Brown University so that eventually young people grow up and
become community leaders.
Patti Smith, Assistant Director
http://gardnercenter.stanford.edu/
The Education Alliance promotes educational
change with the aim of ensuring that every
child has an equal oppportunity to succeed.

Institute for Research and Reform in public education by creating opportunities for
Education (IRRE) state policy makers and educators to share and
Adena Klem, Research Manager exchange information, ideas, and experiences.
http://ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/issuesK12.
IRRE works with districts and schools to come asp
up with alternative ways to ensure that, as a
result of their education, every student is able
National Education Association (NEA)
to succeed in their post-secondary education
as well as in their career. IRRE also provides Faye Northcutt, Senior Program Coordinator
consulting services for state education officials, The National Education Association is the
foundations, and other education professionals. nation’s largest professional employee organiza-
http://www.irre.org/about/ tion and believes that every child in America,
regardless of family income or place of resi-
Lewis and Clark College Graduate School dence, deserves a quality education. In pursu-
of Education ing its mission, the NEA focuses the energy
Greg Smith, Professor and resources of its 2.7 million members on
improving the quality of teaching, increasing
The Lewis and Clark Graduate School of student achievement, and making schools safer
Education and Counseling affords students the and better places to learn.
opportunity to apply what they have learned http://www.nea.org/index.html
to actual classroom and workplace situations
through practica and internships.
National Environment Education and
http://www.lclark.edu
Training Foundation (NEETF)
National Academy Foundation Diane Wood, President

Samantha Blodgett, Director for Education
John Ferrandino, President
NEETF is a non-profit organization dedicated
The National Academy Foundation is a to creating a stronger future through environ-
partnership of businesses and schools that mental education in its many forms. NEETF
focus on developing the skills, knowledge, and sees environmental education as directly
experiences young people need in order to related to larger societal goals such as better
ensure success, not only in their personal and health, improved education, environmentally
academic lives, but also in their careers. sound and profitable business, and volunteer-
http://www.naf.org ism in local communities.
http://www.neetf.org/
National Association of Secondary School
Principals (NASSP) National Service Learning Partnership
Josephine Franklin, Associate Director Nelda Brown, Director
NASSP is an organization representing the The National Service Learning Partnership is a
perspectives of middle level and high school nationwide network of members that actively
principals, assistant principals, and aspiring promotes service learning as an integral part
school leaders from the United States as well of every student’s education. This initiative
as worldwide. The mission of NASSP is to pro- seeks to support a diverse group of young
mote excellence in school leadership. people who are creating lasting change in their
http://www.nassp.org/s_nassp/index.asp communities.
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/
National Center for Learning and PageServer
Citizenship
Education Commission of the States National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)
Terry Pickeral, Executive Director Jim Kielsmeier, President / CEO
The Education Commission of the States is a NYLC connects students, educators, and com-
non-profit organization that seeks to improve munities in order to re-examine the traditional

roles and responsibilities of young people University of California Davis
within American society. This empowers youth School of Education
to view themselves not just as recipients of in- Paul Heckman, Professor
formation and resources, but also as important
and valued contributors. Professor Heckman specializes in school, cur-
http://nylc.org/ riculum and community change with a focus
on the educational ecology of communities.
http://education.ucdavis.edu/directory/person.
RMC Research Corporation
lasso?PersonID=0675
Shelley Billig, Vice President
RMC Research Corporation provides a wide The Center for Information and Research
range of consulting services that include on Civic Learning and Engagement
research, evaluation, professional develop- (CIRCLE)
ment, consulting, technical assistance, and Peter Levine, Deputy Director
product development services. These services
are designed to help communities, schools, The Center for Information and Research on
universities, and districts meet the needs of Civic Learning and Engagement conducts
every student at every stage of their education. and funds research on the civic and political
http://www.rmcdenver.com/ engagement of young Americans between the
ages of fifteen and twenty-five.CIRCLE is also
a clearinghouse for relevant information and
Rural School and Community Trust
scholarship.
Rachel Tompkins, President http://www.civicyouth.org/
Doris Williams, Director of Capacity Building
James Lewicki, Rural Faculty Member
The Rural School and Community Trust be-
lieves that there is an inextricable link between
good schools and thriving communities. Their
mission is help rural schools and communities
“get better together.”
http://ruraledu.org/
State Education and Environmental

Roundtable (SEER)
Gerald Lieberman, Director
SEER is a collaborative effort of sixteen state
departments of education working to improve
student achievements and teaching practices
while providing support to schools in their ef-
forts to meet their improvement goals by using
the Environment as an Integrating Context
model.
http://www.seer.org/

END NOTES
1. R. Blum, School Connectedness: Improving the Lives of Students (Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2005), 4.
2. Indiana University, “What We Can Learn from High School Students” (Bloomington, IN:
High School Survey of Student Engagement, 2005). [Retrieved from www.iub.edu/~nsse/
hssse/pdf/hssse_2005_report.pdf ]
3. Partnership for Twenty-First Century Skills, Learning for the Twenty-First Century:
A Report and Mile Guide for Twenty-First Century Skills. [Retrieved from http://
www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/P21_Report.pdf ]
4. “The State of Our Nation’s Youth 2005–2006” (Alexandria, VA: Horatio Alger Association
of Distinguished Americans, Inc., 2005). [Retrieved from [email protected]]
5. “Ready for The Real World? Americans Speak on High School Reform” (Princeton, NJ:
Educational Testing Service, 2005).
6. Ibid.
7. T. Urdan and S. Klein, “Early Adolescence: A Review of the Literature” (Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1998),
10. [Prepared paper].
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., 10.
10. G. Leiberman and L. Hoody, Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Inte-
grating Context for Learning (San Diego, CA: State Environment and Education Roundtable,
1998).
11. D. Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities (Great Barrington,
MA: The Orion Society, 2004), 9.
12. National Commission on Service Learning, Learning In Deed: The Power of Service Learning
for American Schools (Battle Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2002), 3.
13. See E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan (1991); K. Krynock and L. Robb (1999); and R. Larson
(2000) cited in M. J. Blank, A. Melaville, and B. P. Shah, Making the Difference: Research and
Practice in Community Schools (Washington, DC: Coalition for Community Schools, 2003).
14. National Research Council’s Commission on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement
and Motivation to Learn, Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students Motivation to
Learn (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2003).
15. See Deci and Ryan (1991); Krynock and Robb (1999); and Larson (2000) cited in Blank,
Melaville, and Shah, Making the Difference.
16. E. Medrich, S. Calderon, and G. Hoachlander, “Contextual Teaching and Learning Strate-
gies in High Schools: Developing a Vision for Support and Evaluation” in B. Brand, ed.,
Alternative Assessment and Contextual Teaching and Learning: Essentials of High School Reform
(Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum and the Institute for Educational Leader-
ship, September 2003).
17. See Blum, Beuhring, and Rinehart (2000); Deci and Ryan (1991); and Larson (2000) cited
in Blank, Melaville, and Shah, Making the Difference.
COMMUNITY BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 51

18. D. Schunk and F. Pajares, “The Development of Academic Self-Efficacy” in A. Wigfield and
J. Eccles, eds., Development of Achievement Motivation (San Diego: Academic Press, 2002).
19. C. Midgely and H. Feldlaufer, “Students’ and Teachers’ Decision-Making Fit Before and
After the Transition to Junior High School,” Journal of Early Adolescence 7, no. 2 (1987):
225–41. [Cited in Urdan and Klein, Early Adolescence.]
20. H. Feldlaufer, C. Midgley, and J. Eccles, “Student, Teachers, and Observer Perceptions of
the Classroom Environment Before and After the Transition to Junior High School,” Journal
of Early Adolescence 8, no. 2 (1988): 133–56. [Cited in Urdan and Klein, Early Adolescence.]
21. Education Daily (April 5, 2005).
22. “Poll: Students Don’t Understand First Amendment,” The Annapolis Capital (January 31,
2005): A1. [Poll findings, The Future of the 1st Amendment, reported by the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation.]
23. See Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates and the Tarrance Group, Inc. (2002) as cited in Grow-
ing to Greatness (St. Paul, Minnesota: National Youth Leadership Council, 2004), 17.
24. B. O. Boston and B. Gomez, “Executive Summary,” Every Student a Citizen: Creating the
Democratic Self (Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, 2000).
25. R. F. Catalano et al., “The Importance of Bonding to School for Healthy Development:
Findings from the Social Development Research Group,” Journal of School Health 74, no. 7
(2004): 252.
26. S. Sagawa, “Service as a Strategy for Youth Development,” Shaping the Future of American
Youth (Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum, 2003), 35.
27. Schunk and Pajares, “The Development of Academic Self-Efficacy.”
28. Ibid.
29. M. McLaughlin, Community Counts: How Youth Organizations Matter for Youth Development
(Washington D.C.: Public Education Network, April 2000).
30. Annual Report (Washington, DC: Rural School and Community Trust, 2001), 2.
31. National Research Council, Engaging Schools.
32. S. Fordham and J. Ogbu, “Black Students’ School Success: Coping with the Burden of ‘Act-
ing White,’” Urban Review 18, no. 1 (1986), 55–84.
33. North Central Educational Research Laboratory, All Students Reaching the Top: Strategies for
Closing Academic Achievement Gaps (Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates, 2004), 1.
34. B. Brand et al., Looking Forward: School-to-Work Principles and Strategies for Sustainability
(Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum and Center for Workforce Development,
Institute for Educational Leadership, 2000).
35. PEER Associates, “An Evaluation of Project Co-Seed: Community-Based School Environ-
mental Project, 2003–2004” (Antioch New England Institute and the Place-Based Educa-
tion Evaluation Collaborative, December 2004). [Prepared paper]
36. The State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER). [Retrieved from www.seer.org
and cited in materials from the South Carolina EIC School Network.]
37. Katherine L. Hughes, “School-to-Work: Making a Difference in Education,” Phi Delta Kap-
pan (Dec. 2002). [Cited in www.looksmart.com, fn 17.]

38. Ibid., fn 15.
39. Ibid., fn 14.
40. Ibid., fn 18.
41. S. Billig, “Heads, Hearts, and Hands: The Research on K–12 Service Learning,” Growing to
Greatness (National Youth Leadership Council, 2004), 1225.
42. The Civic Mission of Schools (New York: CIRCLE and Carnegie Corporation of New York,
2003), 69.
43. M. Yates, “Community Service and Political-Moral Discussions among Adolescents,” in J.

Youniss and M. Yates, eds., Roots of Civic Identity: International Perspectives on Community
Service and Activism in Youth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 16–31.
44. Douglas Kirby, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy
(Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001).
45. Hughes, “School-to-Work,” fn 34.
46. Ibid., fn 37.
47. [Retrieved from www.learningindeed.org and cited in National Commission on Service

Learning, Learning In Deed, Abstracts (2001).]
48. Hughes, “School-to-Work,” 6.
49. Ibid., fn 31.
50. Ibid., fn 27.
51. L. Yamauchi, S. Billig, and L. Hofschire, “Student Outcomes Associated With Service
Learning” in A Culturally Relevant High School Program (in press). [Cited in S. Billig,
“Heads, Hearts, and Hands,” 12–25.]
52. A. Furco, “Is Service Learning Really Better than Community Service?” in A. Furco and S.
Billig, eds., Advances in Service Learning Research, vol. 1. (Greenwich, CT: Information Age
Publishers, 2002). [Cited in S. Billig, “Heads, Hearts and Hands,” 12–25.]
53. H. M. Marks, “Student Engagement in Instructional Activity: Patterns in the Elementary,

Middle, and High School Years,” American Educational Research Journal 37, no. 1 (2000):
153–84; A. Klem and J. Connell, “Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support to Stu-
dent Engagement and Achievement,” Journal of School Health 74, no. 7 (September 2004):
262.
54. C. Brainerd, Piaget’s Theory of Intelligence (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978); Jean
Piaget, The Mechanisms of Perception (London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1969).
55. L. S. Vygotsky, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978); Ibid., Thought and Language (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1962). [Original work published 1934.]
56. J. Lave, Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics, and Culture in Everyday Life (Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988); J. S. Brown, A. Collins, and S. Duguid, “Situated
Cognition and the Culture of Learning,” Educational Researcher 18, no. 1 (1989): 32–42.
57. P. Wolfe, Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice (Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001). [Cited in Blank,
Melaville, and Shah, Making the Difference.]

58. Ibid.
59. Schunk and Pajares, “The Development of Academic Self-Efficacy.”
60. P. R. Pintrich and D. H. Schunk, Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applica-
tions (Englewood Cliffs: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 1996). [Cited in Schunk and Pajares, “The
Development of Academic Self-Efficacy,” 7.]
61. Urdan and Klein, “Early Adolescence,” 9–10.
62. Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New York: Basic
Books, 1983); Ibid., Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the Twenty-First Century
(New York: Basic Books, 2000).
63. T. Armstrong, T. In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child’s Personal
Learning Style (New York: Tarcher/Putnum, 1987).
64. B. Benard, “Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, School, and
Community.” (Portland, OR: Western Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities,
1991). [Retrieved from the ERIC database (ERIC # ED 335 781).]
65. K. J. Pittman and W. P. Fleming, “A New Vision: Promoting Youth Development” (Wash-
ington DC: Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, September 1991). Written
transcript of live testimony by Karen J. Pittman given before The House Select Committee
on Children, Youth, and Families.] Also see K. Pittman, M. Irby, and T. Ferber, “Unfinished
Business: Further Reflections on a Decade of Promoting Youth Development,” Youth De-
velopment: Issues and Challenges (Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 2000). [Retrieved
from http://www.ppv.org/indexfiles/pubsindex.html]
66. For a discussion on origins of the field of positive youth development, see R. Catalano et al.,
Positive Youth Development in The United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive
Youth Development Programs (Washington, DC: US Department Of Health and Human
Services and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, November
1998).
67. Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper and Row, 1970).
68. Urie Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979).

Coalition for community schools
VISION, MISSION, AND PARTNERS
The Coalition for Community Schools is an alliance of national, state,

and local organizations in education, K–16, youth development, com-
munity planning and development, family support, health and human
services, government, and philanthropy as well as national, state, and lo-
cal community school networks. The Coalition advocates for community
schools as the vehicle for strengthening schools, families, and communi-
ties so that together they can improve student learning.
Our mission is to mobilize the assets of schools, families, and commu-
nities to create a united movement for community schools. Community
schools strengthen schools, families, and communities so that together
they are better able to improve student learning.
The Coalition for Community Schools partners include the following
organizations:
Community Development/Community Building Family Support / Human Services

Asset-Based Community Development Institute Alliance for Children and Families
Center for Community Change American Public Human Services Association
Development Training Institute Child Welfare League of America
National Community Building Network Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning,
National Congress for Community Economic Development University of Illinois at Chicago
National Council of La Raza Family Support America
National Neighborhood Coalition National Center for Family Literacy
National Trust for Historic Preservation The Educational Alliance
National Urban League United Way of America
Police Executive Research Forum
The Harwood Institute Local And State Government
National Association of Counties
Education National Conference of State Legislatures
American Association for Higher Education National Governors’ Association
American Association of School Administrators National League of Cities
American Federation of Teachers US Conference of Mayors
American School Counselor Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development Federal Government
Council of Chief State School Officers Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Council of the Great City Schools Learn and Serve America Twenty-First Century Learning Centers
Developmental Studies Center
Health And Mental Health
Learning First Alliance
American Public Health Association
National Association for Bilingual Education
American School Health Association
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Assembly on School-Based Health Care
National Association of School Psychologists
National Mental Health Association
National Association of Secondary School Principals
Society of State Directors of Health,
National Association of State Boards of Education
Physical Education National and Recreation
National Association of State Directors of Special Education
UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools
National Center for Community Education
National Education Association Local Community School Networks
National PTA Achievement Plus Community Learning Centers, St. Paul, MN
National School Boards Association Alliance for Families & Children, Hennepin County, MN
National Service Learning Partnership Baltimore Coalition for Community Schools, MD
Pacific Oaks College, CA Bates College/ Lewiston Public Schools, ME

Birmingham Public Schools, AL Joy Dryfoos, Independent Researcher
Boston Excels, MA National Child Labor Committee
Boston Full Service Schools Roundtable, MA National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education
Bridges to Success, United Way of Central Indiana, Indianapolis, IN National Youth Employment Coalition
Bridges to Success, United Way of Greater Greensboro, NC Parents United for Child Care, Boston, MA
Bridges to Success, United Way of Greater High Point, NC Public Education Network
Bridges to the Future, United Way of Genesse County, MI The Finance Project
Chatham–Savannah Youth Futures Authority, GA RMC Research
Chelsea Community Schools, MA The Rural School and Community Trust
Chicago Coalition for Community Schools, IL
Chicago Public Schools, The Campaign to Expand Community Philanthropy
Schools in Chicago Carnegie Corporation
Community Agencies Corporation of New Jersey Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Community College of Aurora/Aurora Public Schools, CO Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Community–School Connections, NY KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Community Schools Rhode Island, RI Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation
Evansville–Vanderburgh Corporation School Community Council, IN Polk Bros. Foundation
Jacksonville Children’s Commission, FLKidsCAN! Rose Community Foundation
Lincoln Community Learning Centers Initiative, NE The After School Corporation
Linkages to Learning, Montgomery County, MD Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds
Local Investment Commission, Kansas City, MO
School Facilities Planning
Mesa United Way, Mesa, AZ
Concordia, LLC
Minneapolis Beacons Project, MN
Council of Education Facilities Planners International
New Paradigm Partners, Turtle Lake, WI
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
New Vision for Public Schools, NY
New Schools/Better Neighborhoods
Project Success, IL
Smart Growth America
Rockland Twenty-First Century Collaborative for Children and Youth, NY
Twenty-First Century School Fund
School Linked Services, Inc., Kansas City, KS
SCOPE, Central Falls, RI State Entities
St. Louis Park Schools, MN California Department of Education
St. Louis Public Schools, Office of Community Education, MO California Center for Community–School Partnerships
Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN), Portland, OR California Healthy Start Field Office
United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania/ Child and Family Policy Center, IA
First Doors to the Future, Philadelphia, PA Children First, OH
University of Alabama–Birmingham/Birmingham Public Schools, AL Community Schools, Rhode Island
University of Dayton/Dayton Public Schools, OH Colorado Foundation for Families and Children
University of Denver/Denver Public Schools, CO University of Kentucky/Lexington Public Schools
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Illinois Community School Partnership
University of New Mexico/United South Broadway Corp/ Education Leadership Beyond Excellence
Albuquerque Public Schools, NM Foundation Consortium, CA
University of Rhode Island/Pawtucket Public Schools Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
West Philadelphia Improvement Corps, PA New Jersey School-Based Youth Services/Department of Human Services
Office of Family Resource and Youth Services Center, KY
National Community School Networks
Ohio Department of Education
Beacon Schools Youth Development
State Education and Environment Roundtable
Institute at the Fund for the City of New York
Tennessee Consortium for Full-Service Schools
Children’s Aid Society
Washington State Readiness-to-Learn Initiative
Collaborative for Integrated School Services,
Voices for Illinois Children
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Communities in Schools Youth Development
Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania Academy for Educational Development
National Community Education Association AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research
School of the Twenty-First Century, Bush Center-Yale University America’s Promise
Association of New York State Youth Bureaus
Policy, Training, And Advocacy
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
American Youth Policy Forum
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Children’s Defense Fund
California After School Partnership/Center for Collaborative Solutions
Cross Cities Campaign for Urban School Reform
Camp Fire USA
Education Development Center
Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth
Eureka Communities
Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund
Family Friendly Schools, VA
Forum on Youth Investment
Foundations, Inc.
National Collaboration for Youth
Institute for Responsive Education
National Institute for Out-of-School Time
Institute for Social and Education Policy, New York University
National School-Age Care Alliance
National Center for Community Education
After School Resource Network
National Center for Schools and Communities, Fordham University
Partnership for After School Education
John Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford University
YMCA of the USA
Institute for Educational Leadership
About IEL
The Coalition for Community Schools is staffed by the Institute for

Educational Leadership (IEL). Since 1964, IEL has been at the heart of
an impartial, dynamic, nationwide network of people and organizations
from many walks of life who share a passionate conviction that excellent
education is critical to nurturing healthy individuals, families, and com-
munities. Our mission is to help build the capacity of people and orga-
nizations in education and related fields to work together across policies,
programs, and sectors to achieve better futures for all children and youth.
To that end, we work to:
• Build the capacity to lead
• Share promising practices
• Translate our own and others’ research into suggestions for
improvement
• Share results in print and in person.
IEL believes that all children and youth have a birth right: the oppor-
tunity and the support to grow, learn, and become contributing members
of our democratic society. Through our work, we enable stakeholders to
learn from one another and to collaborate closely—across boundaries of
race and culture, discipline, economic interest, political stance, unit of
government, or any other area of difference—to achieve better results for
every youngster from pre-K through high school and on into postsec-
ondary education. IEL sparks, then helps to build and nurture, networks
that pursue dialogue and take action on educational problems.
We provide services in three program areas:
• Developing and Supporting Leaders
• Strengthening School-Family-Community Connections
• Connecting and Improving Policies and Systems that Serve
Children and Youth.
Please visit our Web site at www.iel.org to learn more about IEL and
its work.

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Communit y-Ba sed

with Generous Support from

Marion Baldwin Karen Mapp

Doris Baylor Virginia Mason

Amanda Broun Mary Jo Pankoke

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions

Ira Harkavy Lisa Villarreal Martin J. Blank

The Rationale for Community-BASED Learning

There are two types of education: One should teach us how to

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 

A Common Sense Solution: Community-Based Learning

 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

Successful Implementation: Common Sense Drivers

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 

Academically based community service, civic education, environmen-

Overview of the Report

 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

The Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI) grew out of

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 

Overview and core characteristics

Community-Based Learning Strategies

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 

Ë Knowledge is constructed and influenced by social interaction.

Ë Memory—the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of information—is influ-

Ë The motivation to learn is affected by personal judgments about one’s abili-

Ë Individuals learn in different ways.

Ë Barriers to learning can be mitigated by protective factors.

Ë Effective learning environments intentionally connect all of the systems that

Appendix A offers a more in depth look at this research.

Ë Academically Based Community Service connects the academic

 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

ing program continuity from K–12 to post

Unifying Core Characteristics

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 

In the following pages we discuss each core characteristic, highlight

Caring for the Land

In Beaver, Oregon, elements of service learning, environmental education, and

10 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

Meaningful Content: What Community-Based Learning Strategies Do

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 11

WE KNOW THAT… Ë communities as the source

multiple perspectives against which to refine their existing knowledge

Learning Where They Live

At the Lakeview Community Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, students in an after

12 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

Voice and Choice: What Community-Based Learning Strategies Do

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 13

WE KNOW THAT... Ë Redefine students as co-

Ë Students learn in different ways

Student Voices: Energizing and Sustaining Change

Community-based learning occurs throughout the community. In a variety

14 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

Connecting Personal and Public

Connecting Personal and Public Purpose: What Community-Based

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 15

WE KNOW THAT… Ë Help students identify and

all learning.” Civic learning explicitly provides

16 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

Assessment, through standardized test-

Assessment and Feedback: What Community-Based Learning

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship

COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship