Colorado
From Service-Learning Wiki
The Colorado Department of Education continues to respond to the 2003 The Civic Mission of Schools report encouraging civics educators to engage students in service-learning experiences.[1]
Contents |
History
Starting in the 1990s, Colorado gave approximately 60 Learn and Serve America sub-grants annually to teachers to implement projects in their classrooms, fostering a broad expansion of service-learning across the state. under the leadership of Elaine Andrus, a middle school teacher from Colorado Springs, the state linked service-learning with sate middle school reform efforts.
In 2000, Service-Learning Colorado's leadership shifted focus to building infrastructure. Learn and Serve grants, supplemented with private funding helped create four official Service-Learning Regions (with two emerging regions), including a full-time service-learning coordinator, three full-time AmeriCorps*VISTAs, and a formal partnership with a college or university service-learning center. Each region assess the needs of their educators and communities, and develops programs accordingly. For example, the Southwest Regional Initiative helped the Durango Public Schools develop a service-learning strategic plan that included an increase in student participation in school governance. Each region offers three to five service-learning trainings per year and gets funding from at least two sources.
From 1993 through 2003, the Colorado Department of Education managed the Learn and Serve Community-Based Grant, integrating community- and school-based service-learning across the state. Starting in 2000, community-based funds were awarded to agencies working directly with K-12 schools to help educators align service-learning with content standards and Colorado's high stakes assessment, the Colorado Student Assessment Program. Organizations such as Earth Force, the Denver Zoo, and the PeaceJam Foundation aligned their curricula and resources to standards, and developed assessments and activities that helped students prepare for CSAP while doing service-learning. State evaluation results supported the success of their efforts, finding that students who participated in these programs had higher GPAs and performed significantly higher on CSAP than their peers who did not participate.
Networks of Support
Efforts over the past decade have resulted in a network of Service-Learning Regional and District Partnerships that have successfully integrated service-learning into curricula, state and local assessments, district missions, goals, and improvement plans as well as community organizations and structures. Through the collaborative efforts of the State Service-Learning Advisory Group (formed in 2000), AmeriCorps*VISTA Team, Service-Learning Coordinators, Regional Partnerhips, and Youth Councils, Colorado is meeting its goals of increasing participation and impacts of service-learning. A number of VISTA Team members work to support educators to implement quality service-learning.
With assistance from the Civic Canopy — a partnership including Project Citizen, Facing History Civics and Ourselves, the Close-Up Foundation, the Center for Law and Democracy, and the Education Commission of the States — CDE hosted a 2003 Civics and Service-Learning Academy. Fifty educators developed action plans for integrating service-learning into their curricula.
Convening and Celebrating
Since 1992 Colorado has also involved over 150 youths and adults annually in its state service-learning conference. Half of those who attend each year are young people. The conference recognizes leadership in service-learning through its Shakers and Groovers awards and the National Service-Learning Leader Schools. The conference also recognizes recipients of the President's Student Service Awards and Presidential Freedom Scholarships.
In 2001, Colorado hosted over 3,200 participants at the 12th Annual National Service-Learning Conference.
Active Community Organizations
For 10 years FrontRange Earth Force, known nationally for their innovative Community Action Problem-Solving curriculum, has offered professional development and ongoing support for engaging service-learning experiences to teachers in Denver area schools. An annual culminating city-wide presentation and celebration at the Denver Zoo draws approximately 1,000 students.
In 2006 ten Nobel Peace Laureates, the largest gathering of peace laureates outside Oslo, joined 1,000 young people at the University of Denver to celebrate the 10th anniversary of PeaceJam Foundation, a service-learning-based K-12 program headquartered in Denver. The program helps students across the nation cultivate habits of peace-making within themselves, their families, and their communities. Students, teachers, and college mentors convene annually for a weekend of skills-building workshops. They develop and launch a peace-oriented service-learning project to address a local need based on one of the 10 “Global Calls to Action” developed by the Nobelists, whom they meet at an annual spring workshop weekend presenting the outcomes of their project.
Evaluating Progress
Learn and Serve funding in Colorado focuses on students from disadvantaged circumstances through grants to districts, with a district-wide program director and a youth council (generally 6-10 youths). The Northeast Colorado Youth Council travels the state offering trainings for other youth councils.
RMC Research Corporation conducted a 2004-2006 evaluation of the effectiveness of service-learning experiences offered by Learn and Serve Colorado grantees, showing that students who reported participation in higher quality service-learning experiences were more likely to report that they valued school, were academically and civically engaged, felt civically efficacious, had positive civic dispositions, and possessed civic skills. [2]
In 2006 Learn and Serve Colorado contracted annual evaluations with the Evaluation Center, located in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado. The 2006-07 evaluation presented a rubric of high quality-service learning, based on a survey of educators at 23 Learn and Serve schools. Three Banner schools, providing the highest quality of service-learning, found their students possessed high academic efficacy beliefs and parents and community members believed service-learning was positive for students and the community.
Policy Support
On May 25, 2006 Governor Bill Owens signed legislation stating, “Service-learning is an effective teaching method that gives students the opportunity to apply curricular knowledge and skills while serving the community, thereby reinforcing the content standards applicable to many subjects.” The act recommends local adoption of policies promoting youth service and service-learning, and recognition on diplomas and transcripts of students meeting service-learning goals.
Learn and Serve
Colorado has received Learn and Serve funding since 1993, which has allowed the state to create a statewide infrastructure to support the implementation and institutionalization of service-learning.
Youth Contributions
This section is in need of expansion. You can help by expanding it.
As of 2003, Colorado had 15 Service-Learning Youth Councils formed in Learn and Serve funded schools, districts, and regions that directly support the integration of service-learning into school and community life.
Examples of Quality Service-Learning
References
- ^ Civic Mission of Schools. (2003). Carnegie Corporation and CIRCLE. Retrieved June 18, 2008 from http://www.civicmissionofschools.org/site/campaign/cms_report.html.
- ^ The Effectiveness and Impact of Service-Learning: A Statewide Study of Learn and Serve Colorado Grantees 2006 Research Brief. (2006). RMC Research. http://www.cde.state.co.us/servicelearning/downloads/CO2006ResearchBrief.pdf
- Brown, Nelda, Kielsmeier, Jim, Neal, Marybeth, Potts, Stan, et al. 2003. "State of the States: An Outline." In The Generator 21(3):36-42.
- Cairn, Rich and Neal, Marybeth. 2004. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2004. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
- Schultz, Nate. 2008. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2008. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
External Links
- Learn and Serve America in Colorado
- National Service in Colorado (Corporation for National and Community Service)
- Learn and Serve Colorado
- Governor's Commission on Community Service
- Colorado Campus Compact
| States and Territories of the United States | |
| States | Alabama - Alaska - Arizona - Arkansas - California - Colorado - Connecticut - Delaware - Florida - Georgia - Hawaii - Idaho - Illinois - Indiana - Iowa - Kansas - Kentucky - Louisiana - Maine - Maryland - Massachusetts - Michigan - Minnesota - Mississippi - Missouri - Montana - Nebraska - Nevada - New Hampshire - New Jersey - New Mexico - New York - North Carolina - North Dakota - Ohio - Oklahoma - Oregon - Pennsylvania - Rhode Island - South Carolina - South Dakota - Tennessee - Texas - Utah - Vermont - Virginia - Washington - West Virginia - Wisconsin - Wyoming |
| Federal District | District of Columbia |
| Territories | American Samoa - Guam - Northern Mariana Islands - Puerto Rico - Virgin Islands |
| view - edit | |
