Community-Based Learning - ERIC

1 C o m m u n i t y - B a s e d L e a r ni ngEngaging Students for Success and CitizenshipCoalition for Community SchoolsAtelia MelavilleAmy C. BergMartin J. BlankCoalition for Community Schoolswith Generous Support from The Charles Stewart Mott FoundationMISSION STATEMENTThe 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 COMMITTEEIra Harkavy, ChairCenter for Community PartnershipsUniversity of PennsylvaniaLisa Villarreal, Vice ChairThe San Francisco FoundationCarlos AzcoitiaChicago Public SchoolsMarion BaldwinNational Center for Community EducationDoris BaylorMinneapolis YMCAA manda BrounPublic Education NetworkDaniel CardinaliCommunities In SchoolsJoan DevlinAmerican Federation of TeachersJoy DryfoosIndependent ResearcherDeanna DubyNational Education AssociationAyeola FortuneCouncil of Chief State School OfficersJosephine FranklinNational Association of Secondary School PrincipalsClifford JohnsonNational League of CitiesPeter KleinbardFund for the City of New YorkBeth LapinSchool of the 21st CenturyYale UniversityKaren MappHarvard Graduate School of EducationVirginia MasonFamily Support AmericaMary Jo PankokeNebraska Foundation for Children and FamiliesSteve ParsonNational Community Education AssociationJane QuinnChildren s Aid SocietySharon Adams TaylorAmerican Association of School AdministratorsAlison YaunchesThe Rural School and Community TrustMartin

2 J. Blank, Staff DirectorCoalition for Community Schools PrefaceI never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Albert einsteinEducation 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.

3 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 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.

4 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).iiiAmerican Youth Policy Forum Antioch New England Institute Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Blueprint Research & Design, for the Civic Mission, Council for Excellence in GovernmentCenter 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 TrustCitizen SchoolsCorporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve America Earth ForceEducation Alliance at Brown UniversityForum for Youth InvestmentFunders Forum on Education and the EnvironmentGardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford UniversityInstitute for Research and Reform in Education Lewis and Clark College, Graduate School of EducationNational Academy FoundationNational Association of Secondary School Principals National Center for Learning and Citizenship.

5 Education Commission of the StatesNational Education AssociationNational Environment Education and Training Foundation National Service Learning PartnershipNational Youth Leadership Council RMC Research CorporationRural School and Community TrustState Education and Environmental Roundtable We look forward to working with these groups and others to advance our Community-Based Learning Harkavy Ira Harkavy ChairCoalition for Community SchoolsLisa VillarrealVice ChairCoalition for Community SchoolsMartin J. BlankStaff DirectorCoalition for Community SchoolsivcONTeNTSP reface iiiChapter 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 51vCOMMUNITY-BASED Learning : Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship Community-Based Learning : Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship cHaPTer ThE RaTionalE FoR Community-Based lEaRninGThere are two types of education: One should teach us how to make a living and the other should teach us how to live.

6 John AdAmsIn 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 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 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 That disturbing number does not include the young people who have already dropped out.

7 Moreover, 65 percent say they are unexcited about their 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. 3A large majority of respondents to several national surveys agreed that involving students in more real-world Learning experiences would greatly improve student outcomes. Community-Based Learning : Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship 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 Horatio Alger AssociationNinety-two percent of adults (including teachers) favored emphasizing real world Learning in schools including work study, community service, and vocational courses.

8 Sixty-four percent of adults strongly advocated emphasizing real world Educational Testing ServiceSeventy percent of teachers strongly advocated emphasizing real world Educational Testing ServiceDespite 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 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 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.

9 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 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 . Community-Based Learning : Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship As an intentional dimension of the curriculum, Community-Based Learning helps students acquire, practice, and apply subject matter knowledge and skills.

10 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 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.