Virginia
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History
Through the 1980s and 1990s, the Virginia chapter of the National Association of Partners in Education (later called Virginia Partners in Education) helped support school-community partnership programs in many Virginia communities. Several school districts, including Fairfax, Virginia Beach, Alleghany Highlands, and Alexandria developed service-learning programs. The Roanoke City public schools worked with the Virginia Tech Center for Volunteer Development to pilot a comprehensive partnership program that featured service-learning. That program grew to integrate service-learning into the curriculum in all 31 school sites in the district. The Izaak Walton League began its Virginia Save Our Streams program in 1989. Virginia also pioneered school-community partnerships for water-quality monitoring, watershed management, stream bank restoration, and wetlands stewardship.
In the 1990s, service-learning practitioners made some links with school-to-career and, later, character education initiatives in Virginia. Today, leadership for service-learning in Virginia is shifting to environmental issues as Learn and Serve moves to the Office of Middle School and High School Instruction. Learn and Serve programs will focus on addressing student achievement in state standards for science.
The history of service-learning in Virginia is somewhat of a big black hole. Failing to find a permanent home inside the state's education bureaucracy meant that ownership changed many times in the late 1990s. In 2000, governors of the Chesapeake Bay states - Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania - and representatives of the District of Columbia and the United States federal government signed onto the Chesapeake 2000 agreement. Among other environmental objectives, the agreement outlines qualification of a "meaningful watershed education experience" and largely served as an unfunded mandate requiring all Chesapeake Bay states to provide an on-water experience for all students. [1]
In 2003, the mandate finally received funding in the form of a Learn and Serve America grant, thereby firmly placing state-level management of Learn and Serve funds in the Department of Education's office of Middle and High School Instruction. The requirements described in the Chesapeake 2000 agreement are largely the same as the requirements of an quality service-learning experience.
In the early 2000s, the 21st Century Schools program planned to expand links with Learn and Serve and other service-learning programs. Service-learning supported tutoring and other assistance for academically challenged students and provided a means to motivate students to focus on learning.
Networks of Support
In 2008, the state Learn and Serve office brought together a think-tank of experience grantees who have done exceptional work with their funds. Through their experience, the state hopes to improve the quality of student experiences and project outcomes. Particularly important for state SEA Marilyn Weyer-Elder is the state's emphasis on science-based service-learning. In the coming years, she hopes to better utilize data being collected by students on the local level so as to make it valuable to businesses, state agencies, and community partners. While all subgrantees coordinate with local soil and water officials, state-level partnerships are not as fully developed.
Local subgrantees maintain strong partnerships with institutions of higher education in their area, including Mary Baldwin College - which is itself a subgrantee - as well as, among others, Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary. These schools typically provide professional development to teachers and expertise to support student service activities. Some also provide technical assistance or help to coordinate "on-water" activities for students to fulfill requirements of Chesapeake 2000.
Convening and Celebrating
Twice a year, sub-grantees gather for two days of staff development led by veteran teachers focusing on the principles and concepts of service-learning and effective grant management. RMC Research assists Virginia with its program evaluation.
The Virginia Department of Education is represented on the Virginia Commission on National and Community Service. Also, the Governor’s Volunteerism Awards includes a Youth Volunteer Award.
Evaluating Progress
State service-learning admit a need to be better at evaluation. One step towards improvement came in 2008, through a subgrantee whose wife, a PhD candidate in statistics, developed pre and post survey instruments to evaluate the efficacy of Learn and Serve programs in the state. Following a limited release in one region of the state in 2008, the evaluations will be used statewide in coming years. An internal evaluation of programs will also be completed in 2009. Aside from formal outcomes measured in research, Virginia grantees pride themselves on participating in activities that have tangible benefits for their communities in the form of healthier watersheds.
Policy Support
Currently, service-learning is not part of Virginia academic standards or state statute and no definition of service-learning has been adopted. Likewise, service-learning experiences do not count toward graduation nor is service a graduation requirement.
Learn and Serve
Virginia receives several types of Learn and Serve funds. School-based grants are awarded to the state Department of Education and to the National Association of Secondary School Principals, which is headquartered in the state. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University as well as the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation both receive higher education grants, with the latter providing subgrants to institutions of higher education. A local YMCA also receives part of that organization's larger community-based grant.
The Corporation for National and Community Service reports statewide its service-learning programs reach 23,000 participants. Total LSA funding to the state amounted to $896,881 in 2008, with approximately three-fourths of those funds going to K-12 and the remainder to higher education programs.
Virginia currently receives the Learn and Serve K-12 formula grant and provides supplemental state funding for service-learning. Marilyn Weyer-Elder, Mathematics and Science Grants Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Education, serves half-time as SEA for the state.
When Virginia was first profiled in Growing to Greatness in 2006, the state had 12 sub-grantee school districts. That number has since increased to 13 as of 2008 and, in the words of Weyer-Elder, the sites "could not be more strategically located if we had hand-picked them," citing their locations in all areas of the state from the tidal basin to the Appalachians. The latter area is particularly hard hit by and student participants come from rural, under-served communities. Participation in these subgrantee programs is roughly 12,000 students.
The state currently operates on a three-year grant cycle, with the first year dedicated to professional development, the second year focused on effective networking, and the final year seeks to build local partnerships and improve program sustainability. To work through each stage, subgrantees meet for a three session to discuss their grants and coordinate activities for the year. In 2008-2009, the state will be in year two of its current cycle.
Youth Contributions
This section is in need of expansion. You can help by expanding it.
Examples of Quality Service-Learning
- Roanoke County Career Center (Roanoke, Virginia)
- Wetlands Estonoa Learning Center (Saint Paul, Virginia)
References
- Cairn, Rich, Neal, Marybeth, and Crossley, Alison. 2006. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2006. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
- ^ Available at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/.
External Links
- Learn and Serve America in Virginia
- National Service in Virginia (Corporation for National and Community Service)
- Virginia Commission for National and Community Service
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