Topics of Interest

Summer of Service Background


Learn more about the background of Summer of Service on ICP's SOS homepage.

Summer of Service: A New American Rite of Passage


This report by ICP describes elements that would be common to Summer of Service programs, includes youth and community benefits that would result from these programs, and illustrates the policy implications of this initiative.

Program Parameters

The program parameters established by ICP for Summer of Service programs.

Service Learning

Bring Learning to Life Video

8-minute video on service-learning from the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

Designing a Service-Learning Program in Ten Steps

Impacts of Service-Learning on Participating K-12 Students

Recent research emphasizes academic, civic/citizenship, social/personal, and resilience impacts of service-learning on participating K-12 students.

Improving Outcomes for K-12 Service-Learning Participants

Several new studies have recently been completed that illuminate the characteristics of service-learning practice most closely associated with student outcomes. The studies are summarized, and a link to the full study is provided.

Learning In Deed: The Power of Service-Learning for American Schools

Report from the National Commission on Service-Learning.

Service-Learning Background

A basic introduction to service-learning from the Afterschool Alliance.

Service-Learning: In Action Guide

This guide, available through the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, was authored by Cathryn Berger Kaye. Teachers can use this guide to help integrate service-learning into their classrooms to strengthen and enhance academic development. This guide may also be helpful for the application of service-learning in less formal educational environments such as after-school programs and youth groups.

Reach, Teach and Engage with Service-Learning

Written by Cathryn Berger Kaye and available on the National Association of Secondary School Principals website, September 2007.

Tips for effective service-learning projects in out-of-school time programs


What is Service-Learning? A Guide for Parents

This guide is available through the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, as part of the Bringing Learning to Life Series. Written by Cathryn Berger Kaye, it provides information on the definition and benefits of service-learning, as well as practical steps that parents can take to ensure that service-learning is part of their child's education.

Youth and Communities Helping Each Other: Community-based Organizations Using Service-Learning as a Strategy During Out-of-School Time


This report by the Corporation for National Service is designed to offer community-based organizations ideas, suggestions and resources for improving or initiating service-learning programs for youth during out-of-school time.

Youth Voice: A Guide for Engaging Youth in Leadership and Decision-Making in Service-Learning Programs

This guide from Learn and Serve America describes the best methods for engaging youth in leadership capacities in service-learning.

At-Risk Youth

Effective practices for engaging at-risk youth in service

This guide by Youth Service America is designed to provide an overview of the underlying theory and effective practices for engaging at-risk youth in service by examining the roles they have played - and can play - in serving their communities.

Engaged for Success: Service-Learning as a Tool for High School Dropout Prevention

This comprehensive report presents original and secondary research that shows the ability of service-learning to address some of the principle causes of dropping out. It highlights findings from a nationally representative survey of 807 high school students, including 151 at-risk students, who share their views of service-learning.Service-learning holds the potential to address each of the underlying causes of low graduation rates, while incorporating the strategies most recommended for preventing students from dropping out.

Leveling the path to participation: Volunteering and Civic Engagement Among Youth From Disadvantaged Circumstances


This report is the third in the Youth Helping America Series, a series of reports based on data from the 2005 Youth Volunteering and Civic Engagement Survey, a national survey of 3,178 American youth between the ages of 12 and 18. The survey was conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and the nonprofit coalition Independent Sector. The survey collected information on teen volunteering habits, experiences with school-based service-learning, and other forms of civic engagement. This report explores the attitudes and behaviors of youth from disadvantaged circumstances toward volunteering and other forms of civic engagement.

Urban Youth in Community Service: Becoming Part of the Solution

Youth Activities, Substance Abuse and Family Income

This report finds that students from low-income families are less likely to participate in school-based, community-based, church or faith-based or related activities; however, regardless of income, those who did participate were less likely to engage in substance abuse.

Middle School

Effects of Service-Learning on Middle School Students' Social Responsibility and Academic Success

Available through the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, this article studies the effects of service-learning on 1,153 racially and socioeconomically diverse middle school students from Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Missouri.Service-learning participants and comparison groups were completed fall and spring surveys that addressed social responsibility, personal development, parent involvement, engagement in schoolwork, perceived scholastic competence, responsibility for academic achievement, grade point average, student conduct in school, and goal orientation. Differences between the two groups were found on measures of self-efficacy, concern for others' welfare, pursuit of higher grades, and positive perceptions of the opportunities for personal development in schools, with service-learning being associated with higher gains in each of these areas.

Engaging middle school students in service-learning

Service-learning helps students develop academic, workforce, and citizenship skills while helping to solve local problems. This effective practice highlights service-learning at McGehee School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where all 131 students participate in service-learning as part of the regular school curriculum during grades five through eight. McGehee School was profiled in the National Service News, Issue No.159, May 27, 2002, published by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Middle School Service-Learning Instructional Framework

The Middle School Service-Learning Instructional Framework has been devised to offer teachers many options on how to provide service opportunities for students and help place service-learning within Maryland's system of education.

Service-Learning as an Integrated Experience in Middle School Education: An Introduction to Resources and Information


Service-Learning Satisfies Young People's Desire for Public Service

Article from the National Middle School Association

Policy and Legislation


Overview and Recent Updates

Access an overview of existing policy and legislation related to SOS, as well as updates on recent policy developments.

ICP Summer of Service Leglislation

ICP has developed legislation with the offices of Senator Christopher Dodd and Representative Rosa DeLauro to provide federal grants for programs that generate at least 100 hours of service.
 

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