A study used data from the 1996 National Household Education Survey, Youth Civic Involvement component, to determine how students in grades 6-12 were involved in community service activities and how schools might encourage community service participation and integrate it with classroom learning. Some of the results are as follows: (1) about half the students interviewed in grades 6-12 said they participated in community service during the 1995-96 school year; (2) native English-speaking, female, white, 11th- and 12th-grade students who received high grades and were involved in many activities were most likely to participate; (3) students attending a private or church-related school whose parents had college degrees and who participated in community service were most likely to participate; (4) 86 percent of all students were in schools that encouraged community service, either through requiring participation or by arranging or offering it, and students in these schools were more likely to participate; (5) public schools were more likely to arrange but not require community service, whereas private schools were split between those that arranged community service and those that required it; and (6) about half the students who participated regularly in community service said that their service was incorporated into the school curriculum (service learning). (30 references) (KC)