Examines the interplay between service learning policy and research, noting their impact on practice. Discusses traditional roles of research in policymaking, describing an alternative approach to understanding policy. Recommends that service learning practitioners and researchers make usable knowledge available to help clarify contested concepts…

Action research is an approach to knowledge generation that can strengthen communities and institutions and is ideally suited to the advancement of academically-based service learning. Presents the history and goals of this approach to service learning, defining current challenges, providing examples from three action research projects responding…

Explores the rationale for establishing a national center for research on service learning, outlining various current issues and challenges in conducting service learning research and describing how the establishment of a national center can raise the standards and visibility of service learning research. Offers several suggestions about how the…

NetDay began in California as an idea developed by Michael Kaufman, of KQED, and John Gage, of Sun Microsystems. They proposed the "electronic barn raising" concept, drawing on community resources to wire schools and encourage citizens to cooperate. Other states and Australia now participate. (MLH)

A participatory dialogue model was used to engage a Scottish community in identifying expressed and unmet needs for children's services. The move toward a partnership model needs to be made gradually so that participatory ownership and empowerment can develop. (SK)

Increasingly students are coming to campus with a range of experience in community services and are often ready for an expanded role. Some may consider ways to improve or reform the institutions where they serve. This article discusses the role of the campus in building on a student's experience in order to provide more ambitious programs. (JDM)

Describes a project that allows university students to participate in organized service activities that identify and provide health and safety programs and services to two poverty-stricken elementary schools in a Pennsylvania school district. Student activities, including participation in faculty meetings and mandatory reflection, and outcomes are…

Describes a study that examined the effect of community service learning on teacher education students. Concludes that students who are involved in such programs are more aware of the community in which they will teach and are more willing to become engaged in the community they will serve. (Contains 25 references.) (CAK)

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is structured to encourage partnerships between K-12 schools and a wide variety of community tutoring and educational service organizations. Tutoring is a form of education with a long history and can be an important component in improving student achievement. There is a considerable body of literature on…

This program paper discusses the growing need for early childhood services, describes public and private efforts to address the issue, and outlines related plans of the Ford Foundation in 1989. After describing changes in the work force and benefits of child care programs, contents focus on: (1) programs parents now use; (2) present funding…

The New York University-Reading Consortium proposed to evaluate the use of interactive cable television for the delivery of public services to the the elderly residents of Reading, Pennsylvania. The project represented the collaborative efforts of New York University, the City of reading, the Berks TV Cable Company, the Berks County Senior…

Addresses issues regarding the design of electronic community information services and user preferences for information services. Presents results of surveying 80 Wisconsin residents about their community information needs. The following community information needs were identified: library services, local government and banking, local calendars of…

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA), formerly named the Board of Corrections, the administrator of funding. California counties receiving state funds for Juvenile Justice…

Because of the important role played by community learning providers, Premier Ed Stelmach asked Canadian Minister of Advanced Education and Technology to increase support for community education and literacy programs. Community Adult Learning Councils and other community providers of adult literacy and family literacy programming are primarily…

Recently, higher education has witnessed a renewed commitment to the mission of preparing students for lives of active citizenship. Under the leadership of President Lawrence S. Bacow, Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts) has articulated an institutional mission that embraces three areas of focus: active citizenship, internationalism, and…