A Model of School-Based K-12 Service-Learning Mediators and Student Outcomes

Below is the model referenced in the article "Research on K-12 School-Based Service-Learning: The Evidence Builds" by Shelley H. Billig, PhD in Phi Delta Kappan May 2000 issue. For a complete index of this issue see http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/ktoc.htm

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The model shows that when service-learning meets an authentic community need and includes meaningful planning, service, reflection, and celebration, it typically succeeds in engaging students in the learning task. Most studies attribute this to the nature of service-learning as an activity that is perceived by students as being relevant, interesting, meaningful, and fun.

While service-learning increases student engagement in the learning task, this in and of itself is apparently not sufficient to produce robust student outcomes. Rather, a whole variety of program design characteristics appear to be necessary to shape impact. As indicated in the model, these include a high degree of student responsibility for the service, a high degree of student autonomy (students empowered to make decisions, solve problems, and so forth), a high degree of student choice (both in the selection of service to be performed but also in the planning and the evaluation of their activity), a high degree of direct contact with the service recipient with sufficient intensity and duration of contact (not short-term, one-shot service activities but those that establish relationships) and high quality reflection activities (reflection that goes beyond a summary of experience to connection of the experience with content, skills, and values). In addition, well-prepared teachers who serve as active partners and knowledge mediators (but not as sole decision-makers) and the program quality indicators reflected in the Essential Elements (Exhibit I) also serve as critical mediators of student outcomes.

The specific content of the service activity also shapes outcomes in that the particular service activity tends to dictate which area of impact will occur. So, for example, if the service is in the area of environment, the particular academic or civic or career outcomes more often occur within a related field, e.g., higher grades in science, understanding of ecology, caring about the environment or pollution, and understanding careers in environmental science.

The research seems to indicate that these conditions are sufficient to lead to a variety of personal development outcomes such as reduction of negative behaviors, self-efficacy and potency (belief that you can make a difference), resilience, social competence, and related constructs. However, they are not sufficient to produce the other outcomes. What is needed for each of these is a constellation of additional factors.

• To achieve stronger academic outcomes, program designs must include intentional integration with specific subject matter in the curriculum (e.g., building a playground or wheelchair ramp needs to be explicitly connected with geometry), alignment with standards (since this is typically what is measured in test scores, grades, unit tests, and other measures of achievement), and reflection activities that include higher order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and/or problem-solving as a way to understand the service activity and its relationship to society/community need. When these are present, strong academic outcomes as measured by enhanced learning of subject matter, higher grades, and/or higher test scores can result.

• To achieve stronger civic responsibility outcomes, it is necessary for the teacher to help students make explicit connections with social or citizenship issues (e.g., connecting an analysis of why certain populations are less likely to vote with a voter registration drive or helping students understand cultural views of aging when they are working with the elderly). When these are present, strong civic responsibility outcomes such as increased likelihood to vote or serve as a community volunteer, caring about society, the community, and others, and understanding social, economic, and political forces can result.

• To achieve career-related outcomes, it is necessary for the program design to include intentional connections to workplace skills, career pathways, or job knowledge.