"Social capital" describes the strength of community as measured by the connections and levels of trust among its members. These connections are both formal and informal and the benefits include better health and better academic achievement. In this article, the author proposes two types of experiments to determine whether the relationship between student achievement and social capital is causal. The author's first proposal is to press for and support coordinated efforts among governmental agencies, private businesses, and nongovernmental organizations in efforts that promote civic engagement in the service of academic achievement in the nation's children and adolescents in an attempt to change social capital in a community and examine the impact of the increase or decline. The second one has been conducted on a small scale. Academic service-learning is a strategy that teaches curricular content through community service activities. The presence of service-learning is growing in U.S. schools and provides a notable exception in decline of social capital.