4+Areas+of+Growth

[[image:open_minded.jpg align="right"]] Academic Achievement
According to Billig (2002), service-learning has also been found to have a positive impact on academic achievement (p. 186). Teachers are continuously looking for ways to make learning meaningful; positioning learning in a real world context. Billig’s (2006) review of research on how students learn suggests three major characteristics of effective learning environments: Engaging schools build students' competence, in part, by giving them more control over their learning than less engaging schools; they promote academic values and goals; and they promote a sense of belonging (as cited in Scales, Roehlkepartain, Neal, Kielsmeier, & Benson, 2006, p. 39). Students are most engaged when involved in the construction of the learning and cognizant of the link between the learning and the real world. So, what does this mean specifically for the “at-risk” students that I teach? Low-income youth are more often taught using memorization, drills, and other basic instructional methods that are not conducive to engagement or learning, and they suffer from generally lower expectations for their achievement. Educators, teaching in schools with students who come from low income homes, often “waterdown” education in order to see success. We tend to teach to the lower achieving students instead of teaching up, to the average or higher achieving students. Blyth, Saito, & Berkas (1997) stated that, “students who are most disengaged from school when they entered a service-learning program were most likely to experience positive change” (as cited in Scales et al, 2006, p. 42-43). My experience teaching in a community school has been that students are less engaged in their academic success and more concerned about the basic needs that are being met while at school. I believe that service-learning is the teaching method that will engage students into participating and through its integration of classwork and service, increase student scores.

Personal andSocial Development
Students have also showed increases in measures of communication, competence, and personal and social responsibility when involved in a service-learning program. Loesch- Griffin, Petrides, and Pratt (1995), in their evaluation of a service-learning program in California, found that students who participated in service-learning became more dependable for others and felt more comfortable communicating with ethnically diverse groups (as cited inBillig, 2002, p. 186). As well, Furco(2002) provides evidence that participation in service-learning helps students "feel empowered as they take on leadership and adult-like roles” (as citedin Billig, 2002, p. 186)). Another study completed by Melchior and Bailis (2002) showed statistically significant positive impacts on scales that measure personal and social responsibility connected to social welfare, community involvement, acceptance of diversity, and acquisition of communication skills (as cited in Billig, 2002, p. 186). Scales, Blyth, Berkas, & Kielsmeier(2000), found that middle school students who participated in service-learning showed greater concern for others' welfare, compared with a control group, and retained this level of concern over the course of the school year while control students declined over time (as cited in Billig, 2002, p. 186). An additional study done by Johnson and Notah(1999) of eighth-grade students showed that service-learning participants scored higher on measures of self-esteem and responsibility than their non-participating peers (as cited in Billig, 2002, p. 186). And finally, results from a comparison of multiple-prevention approaches completed by Kirby (2001), found that service-learning programs may have the strongest evidence of any interventionin that they reduce actual teen pregnancy rates while the youth are participating in the program (Billig, 2002, p. 186). Service-learning clearly helps students develop into altruistic and empathetic individuals. Students become accepting of diversity, they show initiative and their resiliency is strengthened.

Civic Responsibility/Citizenship
Service-learning also has been found by many researchers to have a positive impact on citizenship and civic responsibility. Billig(2000) claims that students participating in service-learning felt “more aware of community needs, felt they could make a difference and were committed to service later in life” (p. 16). Stephens(1995) found that elementary and middle school students who participated in service-learning activities showed “increases in civic responsibility and service ethic measures”(as cited in Billig, 2002, p. 187). Tolo(1999) demonstrated that students who participated in service-learning became more "civic minded" and were more knowledgeable about socio-historical contexts and the role of politics and morality in society (as cited in Billig,2002, p. 187). It is my hope that by executing the service-learning strategy, my students will become engaged in, and active members of, their community. I want my students to involve themselves in the politics of their community and participate in the civic duties that are rights entrusted to them by their predecessors.

Career Awareness
Research has also seen positive results concerning career awareness. When students are engaged in activities outside of the school and involved with organizations and the employees and patrons of such, they are able to observe the work and skills of professions they may not have seen if not given the opportunity. According to Billig (2000), students who participated in service-learning reported “gaining more career skills, communication skills and knowledge of more careers than non-participants” (p.17). Several studies have shown that service-learning participation has led students to become more aware of their career options. For example, Weiler showed that California service-learning students developed positive work-orientation attitudes and skills and a national evaluation performed on service-learning participants in the United States showed increases in career knowledge (as cited in Billig 2002). Furco (2002) found “strong statistically significant differences on formulation of career plans and emphasis on finding a career that was personally satisfying” (p. 31). Participating students have come away from service-learning opportunities with having learned job related skills and aspirations.