Indiana
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History
In 2004, the Indiana Department of Education was awarded Corporation for National and Community Service funds to address issues concerning homeland security through service-learning. The key purpose of the Learn and Serve Indiana Homeland Security Initiative grant is to support district-wide service learning programs that 1) engage students in eight key elements of service-learning; 2) demonstrate a plan to enhance students’ civic knowledge, skills and attitudes; 3) reveal how student achievement will increase by utilizing service-learning; and 4) include rigorous performance measures.
Program examples include:
- Enhancing current school safety plans through collaboration with the district’s School Safety Specialist;
- Addressing issues of school violence through creative and innovative means;
- Addressing topics of bullying and/or intolerance by appropriate and effective means;
- Creating and disseminating a school-wide/community-wide plan to respond to disaster.
Networks of Support
Learn and Serve subgrantees in Indiana are limited to six years of funding. In order to help them maintain their programs when federal funds are no longer available, the Department of Education requires each sub-grantee to form a Service-Learning Advisory Board. Administrators, teachers, community partners, parents, and students serve on these boards, and provide support for service-learning programs in their corporation. In addition, Service-Learning Advisory Board members from across the state attend an annual Summer Service-Learning Institute, hosted by the Department of Education. Recent institutes have focused on curriculum alignment and youth development.
A key partner of Learn and Serve Indiana is the Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana. Their mission is to promote youth philanthropy through partnerships and collaboration; to support giving and serving among young people through training, education, and resources; and to sustain youth philanthropic efforts in ways that meet local community needs.
The Indiana Department of Education has partnered with the Civic Literacy Project, the Center for Youth as Resources, and Indiana Campus Compact to embed service-learning into educational departments at colleges to provide education majors a thorough understanding of service-learning.
The Civic Literacy Project also coordinates the implementation of a comprehensive school reform model, Service-Learning and Teaching Aligned to Reform Education in Schools (STARS) Education Initiative, that incorporates service-learning as the key element in six Indiana schools.
With programs such as the Civic Literacy Project, Indiana has been able to build a strong infrastructure to promote service-learning as a strategy for using academic knowledge to solve community problems and, in so doing, changing community attitudes about young people.
Empowering Youth
Several subgrantees have Youth Advisory Boards. For example, Spencer-Owen Community Schools’ YAB handles all mini-grants in their corporation. They make decisions and forward them to the Service-Learning Advisory Board for final approval.
Convening and Celebrating
Indiana Campus Compact and the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives hosts an annual conference that brings together all streams of service — Learn and Serve, AmeriCorps, VISTA, and Senior Corps, as well as volunteer centers, community-based programs, and faith-based programs. In 2007 this event brought together 750 participants. More than 200 were Learn and Serve participants or practitioners. The event included student service-learning presentations, faculty and staff professional development programming, and an award luncheon.
Policy Support
Service-learning in Indiana has the support of legislation and a network of supporting organizations. Enacted by the General Assembly in 1993, Public Law 194 allows schools to provide an opportunity for students to earn academic credit by completing service-learning projects. Schools may allow high school juniors and seniors to earn one credit per year (toward minimum graduation requirements) for 48 or more hours of community service. Public Law 221 was created in 2000, and gave schools three years to create plans for how to implement the state standards. Service-learning coordinator Michele Sullivan and the SLTA’s (service-learning technological assistants) have developed a document showing schools how service-learning aligns with Public Law 221, as well as SCANS and Character Education.
Learn and Serve
Learn and Serve Indiana is focused on helping subgrantees connect service-learning more closely to curricular goals. As part of this effort, the Department of Education has provided curriculum frameworks designed to help teachers incorporate service-learning into courses. The curriculum alignment frameworks have garnered interest from school corporations — equivalent to districts — that are new to service-learning. Administrators are beginning to see that service-learning helps students solidly meet state standards.
Indiana’s Learn and Serve program offers grants on the school corporation level. Unlike funding individual classrooms, funding corporations promotes sharing of funds, which helps build sustainability. The Department of Education requires corporations receiving funds to provide two trainings each year for teachers who are less familiar with service-learning. In addition, superintendents and administrators in corporations that receive Learn and Serve funding must participate in trainings on quality service-learning and how to integrate it into the curriculum.
Youth Contributions
This section is in need of expansion. You can help by expanding it.
Examples of Quality Service-Learning
References
- Cairn, Rich, Henning, Anna, and Neal, Marybeth. 2005. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2005. 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 Indiana
- National Service in Indiana (Corporation for National and Community Service)
- Learn and Serve Indiana
- Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
- Indiana Campus Compact
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