The decline in civic engagement has prompted scholars and policymakers to explore the role of education. One approach gaining traction is mandatory community service, which requires middle and high school students to complete a set number of community service hours as a condition for graduation. However, evidence on the long-term effects of such…

Canadian schools introduced community service program in 1999 to engage youth in diverse communities of Canada. Many studies have identified the gap in understanding immigrant youths' experience on mandatory community service but has yet to study immigrant youth's experience. Therefore, this paper explores the experiences of young Nepalese…

As school districts and communities struggle to increase civic engagement for their students, a medium-sized suburban school district implemented required community service hours as part of their high school graduation requirements. The purpose of this qualitative program evaluation was to investigate how the community service program was meeting…

A statewide survey of coordinators of inclusive high school service-learning programs was conducted to validate elements, methods, and barriers to including students with and without disabilities in service-learning. Surveys were mailed to 655 service-learning coordinators; 190 (29%) returned a completed survey. Findings support the validity of…

Student Service Learning (SSL) provides students the opportunity to actively participate in the community and build the skills they need to be successful students and citizens. This booklet provides information about the Maryland State Department of Education SSL graduation mandate. Completing 75 SSL hours is a requirement for high school…

In 1999, the Ontario provincial government introduced into its high school curriculum a requirement that students complete 40 h of volunteer community service before graduation. At the same time, the high school curriculum was shortened from five years to four. Consequently, the 2003 graduating class of Ontario high school students contained two…

Young people in the United States today are much more likely to be involved in volunteer work of an apolitical sort than in politics. As part of a study on political engagement, the author and other colleagues surveyed students at a diversity of colleges and universities and asked them why they and many of their peers are so much more likely to…

In a recent survey sponsored jointly by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and the Council for Excellence in Government, several questions regarding young people's attitudes towards civic education and community service requirements were asked. These included questions asking if students were favorable or…