Service Learning Panel Shares Practical Starting Points

By Rebecca Lish

	From left to right: Barbara Grohe, Kathy Havens Payne, and Daniel Nerad

Service learning provides opportunities for students to become civically engaged citizens, one of the primary roles of education that has often been forgotten.

In a conference session Saturday, Kathy Havens Payne, senior director of educational leadership at the State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Ill., said it’s time to bring communities back to schools in a more meaningful way. Service learning is powerful way to do this, she said.

Payne was joined on a panel by Randall Collins, superintendent for Waterford Public Schools in Waterford, Conn., and past president of AASA; Barbara Grohe, executive board member of the National Center for Learning and Citizenship in Denver, Colo.; and Daniel Nerad, district administrator in the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wis. Each panelist gave examples of service learning programs they have seen work in their districts. Each also cautioned against the use of one-size-fits-all service learning programs.

Nerad spoke of service learning being at the center of the curriculum at a high school in Madison. “They are concerned with the world they are inheriting,” noted Nerad. There is a culture of activism in this school and students are involved in school funding issues.

In Collins’ district, students are required to complete 80 hours of public service to graduate. “The true genius of the plan is that kids who would otherwise not participate participate because it’s required,” he said.

Buy-in by teachers, students and community is critical to the success of service learning initiatives. Nerad gave suggestions on how to create buy-in. He said school district leaders need to publicly proclaim their commitment to service learning. They also need to appeal to the natural service learning instincts of teachers and create collaborative conversations with teachers about service learning.

In order for any change in education to happen, you must have “support, support, support,” said Grohe, former National Superintendent of the Year. She recommended attendees “find out where in the culture in the district is the best place to start … where people agree with you.” From there, administrators can start to build successful service learning programs.

“Whether students are in kindergarten or the 12^th grade, there are opportunities for them to be civically engaged,” Grohe said.

For more information on service learning, visit the National Center for Learning and Citizenship website at www.ecs.org./nclc.