New York

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New York is actively building its service-learning programs through leadership at the New York State Department of Education and the New York State Commission on National and Community Service, as well as through effective partnerships with community-based organizations and sustainable programs at the local and district levels.

Contents

History

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After a decade of building from the bottom up, between the late 1990s and early 2000s New York developed its regional and state infrastructure of support for service-learning. The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) used Learn and Serve America Fund for the Advancement of Service-Learning and Community-Higher Education-School Partnership grants to develop four strong regional institutes and ten regional networks.

Regional supports include multiple levels of staff development opportunities, websites, and aid with curriculum development. Many of these regions have received a VISTA recruited from the ranks of young teachers or mid-career professionals with an interest in teaching (to help develop the network). Many of these VISTAs have gone on to teach.

In the past, New York has included service-learning strategies in an inclusion grant from the New York Developmental Disabilities Council. Service-learning, as an alternative to student suspension and expulsion, was also developed through a grant from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice and has been written about by the School Administrator's Association of New York State. [1] NYSED and NYS Lion’s Club have completed Lions-Quest Training for over 1,300 K-12 teachers through a two-year CORE 4 grant.

The New York State Service-Learning Leadership Institute was developed to continue professional development efforts at the local and state levels. In 2004, the Mid-Hudson Service-Learning Institute hosted the three-day 9th annual New York State Service-Learning Conference.

Over the years, four regional service-learning institutes have provided training and support to practitioners throughotu the state. These centers, located in Scotia, Albion, Kingston, and Rockville Center are affiliates of the statewide New York State Service Learning Leadership Institute based out of NYSED in Albany.

Networks of Support

Leaders in the state are working to integrate service-learning instruction into existing state and district initiatives. Districts and schools that receive state funding typically find funding for service-learning when it supports their broader instructional goals. State grantmakers don't want to bring service-learning into a school's curriculum as a stand-alone initiative.

Of particular emphasis in 2008, are efforts by NYSED to focus service-learning efforts in the areas of literacy, character education, social and emotional learning, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Literacy programs have focused on tutoring and mentoring. Character education has continued to be an important component of state education efforts, as it was last time New York was profiled in 2004.

The STEM programs are NYSED's newest initiatives and are particularly targeted at minority and disadvantaged communities. As well as LSA-funded programs, the department is working to incorporate service-learning into the K-12 Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) and College STEP (CSTEP) programs, which use a $15 million state grant to involve eleven to twelve thousand students from disadvantaged communities in science and technology programs that help lead to college access.

NYSED is also beginning to train project directors in the Liberty Partnerships Program on how to incorporate service-learning into their dropout prevention efforts statewide. This program, with $12 million in state funding reaches 13,000 New York students.

The state's partnership with New York City-based non-profit Children For Children has helped bring service-learning into afterschool and weekend programs for K-12 students. Additionally, efforts to build partnerships between K-12 and higher education, particularly through New York Campus Compact, are helping to define a PK-16 service-learning vision for the state.

Service-learning provides a natural means to support a state character education mandate. The State Department of Education assists local districts to infuse service-learning into character education and inclusion programs and curricula. NYSED, the Finger Lakes Regional Service-Learning Institute-Albion Central School District, and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (through a Character Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education) have engaged teachers from multiple schools to aid in developing, implementing, and evaluating a curriculum-based method of character education that promotes character virtues in students while addressing community needs through service-learning. The New York State Service-Learning Leadership Institute will also seek funding to expand its efforts to link service-learning and civic engagement.

At the local level, school districts with established service-learning programs role model for other districts that are new to service-learning. Developing relationships with New York State United Teachers and the New York Teacher Centers are helping to bring service-learning training into broader education professional development and teacher training. The Teacher Centers alone deliver online and in-person professional development to more than 200,000 teachers in the state. Service-learning is piggy-backing off these professional development efforts to deliver the pedagogy directly to a much larger number of educators than would be possible in service-learning specific venues.

Convening and Celebrating

New York no longer holds a state service-learning conference. However, a number of regional meetings and professional development opportunities for students and teachers held connect and network practitioners in the state. During National Service-Learning Week, participants and educators from around the state gather to showcase their work and engage in service projects. The state Commission has an AmeriCorps kickoff conference that New York Learn and Serve attends.

In 2008, NYSED has worked with CFC to host and participate in dropout prevention summits being held this year by America's Promise Alliance in Rochester and New York City.

Improving Sustainability

Taking the approach that sustainability of service-learning in schools comes from long-term investment and support, NYSED has subgranted to several districts for nearly a decade. In the past, individual schools and projects may have received funds, but leadership are now committed to institutionalization rather than using LSA funds to build programs from the ground up. Many districts that receive LSA funds have a district-level service-learning coordinator, an important step towards long-term sustainability that has the potential to outlive and outgrow Corporation funding.

Professional Development

While most service-learning funding in the state has gone to established districts, the state is looking to open the door to new districts that are excited about service-learning in order to further expand Learn and Serve's reach. And, while funds have not been delivered to individual classrooms in new districts, the state has been active in providing professional development opportunities to teachers to help them pique their district's interest in the pedagogy and grow to a level that qualifies them for federal subgrants.

Policy Support

Currently, service-learning has no mention in statute and is only referenced in academic standards. However, according to state LSA Director Fran Hollon, as excitement around service-learning grows, "the time is right now more so than it has ever been for service-learning to take hold in the state." [2] The state is encouraging service-learning when possible, but the decision of requirements or district-wide implementation is left to local policymakers. Some LSA subgrantee districts, particularly those who have received funding for a number of a years, have heavily institutionalized service-learning and a few have service-learning requirements.

Hollon is actively working with social studies curriculum specialists in NYSED to develop a more robust presence for service-learning in the state's K-12 social studies curriculum, with particular emphasis on citizenship education in high school grades. NYSED is working to incorporate service-learning into trainings provided by the Association of Teachers of Social Studies. The state is also encouraging districts to recognize service-learning activities on student transcripts, where other academic, athletic, and co-curricular accomplishments are already recorded.

Learn and Serve

New York Learn and Serve initially supported projects by individual teachers. Starting in 2000, New York began to fund only school districts to promote program longevity. As of 2008, many programs have received funding for eight-ten years. There is great variation in the size of recipient school districts. In some school districts, 70 percent of students and teachers are involved.

New York’s school-based Learn and Serve program is based in the State Department of Education’s Office of K-16 Initiatives and Access Programs because the program grew out of a campus-school partnership program in the 1990s. Fran Hollon, who serves as SEA for the state, is currently the only staff member responsible for service-learning activity in the State Department of Education. Despite limited staff hours, the state has expanded service-learning programs through effective partnerships within and outside of state government.

New York has numerous Learn and Serve grantees, across all program categories. In total, the state receives $2,079,516 in funding for service-learning from the Corporation for National and Community Service. NYSED and the American Red Cross of Greater New York both receive school-based grants, involving 39,328 in 36 subgrantee programs. NYSED is responsible for 26 of those subgrantees. The After-School Corporation and The Christian Neighborhood Center of Norwich receive a combined $351,342 in community-based grants. And, the Foundation for Long Term Care, the Research Foundation of SUNY at Buffalo State College, and Wagner College receive higher education grants totaling $336,832, which involve 3,337 participants.

Several areas of emphasis help direct Learn and Serve funds toward projects focusing on literacy, character education, and social-emotional learning. Moving forward, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math programs will likely receive expanded funding. A number of LSA-funded districts are utilizing GPS and GIS technology in their service-learning programs.


Youth Contributions

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Examples of Quality Service-Learning

References

  • Cairn, Rich and Neal, Marybeth. 2004. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2004. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
  • ^  Hollon, Fran. Personal Interview with NYLC. July 9, 2008.
  • New York State Education Department. "Service-Learning: The Classroom Companion to Character Education." Retrieved January 1, 2004 from http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/PCPPU/service_learn/home.html.
  • ^  Sawchuk, John. "Implementing Community Service Learning Into the School Discipline Code." School Administrator's Association of New York State. Retrieved July 9, 2008 from http://www.saanys.org/viewarticle.asp?id=224.


See Also


External Links

Corporation for National and Community Service

State Partners


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