West Virginia

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West Virginians throughout history have understood the need for service, service learning and volunteerism. The very nature of a native-born West Virginian is to extend a helping hand to those in need in local communities. There is a rich culture of assisting others and providing a “hand up” but not a “hand out”. West Virginians have been volunteering and providing services for young children through the elderly as long as the state has existed. It is a character that has lasted throughout generations that encourages intergenerational activities which provide help and assistance to those less fortunate and most in need. Volunteerism and service are part of the fabric of society in the state of West Virginia, with rich traditions steeped in the fundamentals of service and service-learning.

Contents

History

Some of the West Virginia schools had service-learning and volunteer programs for students that pre-dated the Corporation for National and Community Service. Statewide efforts to advance service-learning in West Virginia took flight with the collaboration of partners across the streams of national service in the early 1990s.

In 1991, an application for competitive funding was developed by Jack Newhouse, West Virginia Department of Education; Fred Harrington, West Virginia Department of Education; and Sallie Harrington, West Virginia Department of Education, wrote the initial grant to the Corporation for National and Community Service. The same year the state of West Virginia first received Learn and Serve funding enabling the Department of Education to sponsor the first of West Virginia’s K-12 Learn and Serve Programs.

At the same time, Charleston’s Paula Flaherty began to mobilize service-learning programs through the Kanawha County schools. In 1994, she formed the West Virginia Service-Learning Consortium, a collaboration between the school district, the University of Charleston, and the United Way of Kanawha Valley. The Consortium continues to provide state and local leadership and staff development. The Ohio-West Virginia YMCA helped guide the growing movement and trained educators and youth leaders while West Virginia Campus Compact actively contributed to the statewide collaboration.

The Learn and Serve application has been revised and changed each year from 1991 through 2009.

Networks of Support

The key partners for service learning in West Virginia are the West Virginia Department of Education, subgrantees, community and faith-based agencies, institutions of higher education, the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service, First Lady Gayle Manchin, and Governor Joe Manchin III’s office. The First Lady and Governor of West Virginia have produced television and radio commercials promoting service-learning and volunteerism. The West Virginia Department of Education has required that service-learning programs work with community and faith-based agencies and institutions of higher education.

With the 1994 creation of the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service, the state gained a powerful champion for national service and volunteerism. The West Virginia Department of Education collaborates with the Commission on cross-stream trainings throughout the fiscal year.

The West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Commission for National & Community Service encourage the local WVK-12 Learn and Serve Programs to partner with institutions of higher education. Most of the sixteen WVK-12 Learn and Serve grantees work in partnership with the institutions of higher education to develop, plan and implement service-learning activities with the goal of neighborhood improvement.

Closing the Achievement Gap, a program affiliated with No Child Left Behind and sponsored by the state superintendent of schools, includes service-learning as a criterion for excellence in its model of an ideal West Virginia school. The West Virginia Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Center Programs and the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Healthy Schools programs both promote service-learning as a promising implementation strategy.

Tools

The West Virginia State Department of Education has four Service-Learning Specialists employed who serve in the role of service-learning mentors and advisors. These Service-Learning Specialists also provide technical assistance and monitoring services to the local subgrantees of the WV K-12 Learn and Serve Program.

The West Virginia Department of Education set up a listserve for communication between WVK-12 Learn and Serve subgrantees. The subgrantees are also encouraged to collaborate on projects and visit each other throughout the project period. The Department provides a statewide conference conducted in the fall of the year that is co-sponsored by Project FLOW, a community-based Learn and Serve Program subgranted from the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service. This effort provides cross-stream trainings for K-12 students, community-based personnel, Americorp workers, VISTA workers, and retired senior volunteer personnel. An annual statewide summer event Volunteerism Conference is another opportunity where all parties involved in service learning and volunteerism can attend training sessions and network. The West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service has also developed a website where all volunteer opportunities are posted, and all volunteer work can be posted and banked to show the volunteer efforts across the State of West Virginia.

The West Virginia Department of Education, under the direction of the previous State Administrator for WVK-12 Learn and Serve, and the current State Administrator for WVK-12 Learn and Serve, wrote and made available, West Virginia’s Service-Learning Lesson-Plans for K-12 Challenged Students. This publication has two qualities which are especially helpful to service learning educators and students. The lesson plans have a section which indicates needed conditions for use by challenged students. And the publication also provides academic objectives from the former instructional goals and objectives for West Virginia (WVIGOs). These West Virginia instructional goals and objectives are listed in each lesson plan.

The West Virginia schools involved in service learning were actively involved in developing these lesson plans and received national recognition for their service-learning programs. Elkins Mountain School and the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind were selected in 1999 as National Service Learning Leader Schools by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Morgantown High School and the Davis-Stewart Center were selected in 2000 as National Service Learning Leader Schools. These schools thoughtfully and effectively integrated service into the curriculum and life of their students, promoted civic responsibility, improved school and student performance, and strengthened their communities. The West Virginia Department of Education has made its West Virginia Service-Learning Lesson Plans for Challenged Students available throughout the state of West Virginia, to other State Education Agencies (SEAs) and the National Peer-Based Service Learning Exchange to help support civic engagement in the 21st Century. The West Virginia Service-Learning Lesson Plans for Challenged Students publication has also been made available through the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

Convening and Celebrating

The annual three-day West Virginia Conference on Volunteerism, National Service, and Service-Learning is the result of a partnership of state and federal agencies, nonprofits, faith-based and private organizations and is coordinated by the WV Commission for National and Community Service. The conference draws hundreds of students, teachers, AmeriCorps members, community leaders, and adult volunteers. The governor recognizes 12 categories of service awards each year at the conference. In fall 2005, the collaboration worked closely with the American Red Cross to aid citizens displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Youth participants in the annual conference have the opportunity to participate in the Youth Service Leadership Academy, which provides youths the opportunity to learn about leadership and perform a service project.

In 2004-5, the Service-Learning Consortium held a three-day Service-Learning Institute as a track within the state’s annual service conference. State and national experts presented at the institute.

The State Department of Education State Administrator and staff participate in numerous professional development initiatives related to service learning. The State Department of Education communicates daily with local WV K-12 Learn and Serve subgrantees providing them with information on any and all professional development initiatives. The four Service Learning Specialists employed by the West Virginia Department of Education are available at anytime on demand to provide professional development to students, teachers, administrators, community-based personnel, faith-based personnel, and institutions of higher education. In addition, the West Virginia Department of Education Learn and Serve staff and local subgrantees take advantage of collaborative professional development activities.

The WVK-12 Learn and Serve staff attend all professional development activities sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service, as well as the National Youth Leadership Council annual trainings.

Evaluating Progress

Projects funded by VolunteerWV's community-based Learn and Serve grant involved on average 100 youth per program (compared to a national average of 50) and had 11 community partnerships (compared to a national average of 7). Students across the state in the program performed more than 5,000 hours of service to their communities.

Policy Support

There is no language with regard to service-learning in the educational state statutes. However, the State Administrator for WVK-12 Learn and Serve programs encourages all academic agencies to promote and utilize service-learning as part of the academic curriculum across the individual disciplines. The State Administrator for WVK-12 Learn and Serve programs and her staff provide presentations on demand to inform and educate about the benefits of service learning for students.

Under the direction of State Superintendent Steven Paine, the Department of Education and the state Board of Education have reworked social studies standards to focus on hands-on learning.

Whether service-learning count towards graduation varies among the 55 county school systems and boards of education. This is a decision that is left up to the local county boards of education. Some districts have service-learning requirements or strong commitments to service learning. According to Service-Learning Specialist Karlie Price, “The service course in Kanawha County has become such an ingrained part of the culture that students often speak of it as a requirement even though it really is not mandatory.” Every high school in Kanawha County has a service-learning coordinator.

No West Virginia state funding is allocated to service-learning beyond the Corporation for National and Community Service grants.

Learn and Serve

West Virginia's Learn and Serve funds come in the form a school-based grant to the Department of Education and a community-based grant to the state's commission, VolunteerWV.

School-based

The West Virginia Department of Education currently receives a school-based Learn and Serve grant of $127,041. The state's subgrantees along with the organizations receiving funds from the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service's community-based grant involve as many as 4,900 students in service-learning annually.

The Department of Education's sub-grantees receive a modest $5,000 per year, renewable for up to three years. Programs vary based on local needs. In some cases, countywide school districts advance district-wide service-learning initiatives. Others direct funds to a particular school. A regular newsletter informs and connects sub-grantees between training events.

In April 2005, the West Virginia Department of Education received its highest number of applications for the competitive grant process in the history of providing funding for West Virginia’s Learn and Serve programs for kindergarten through 12th grade. A growing number of schools integrate service-learning into the curriculum.

Each Learn and Serve sub-grantee sends a minimum of three students to Ohio-West Virginia YMCA Camp Horseshoe each year for a week of training in service-learning, leadership, and entrepreneurship. In 2005, Karlie Price, Service-Learning Specialist with the West Virginia Department of Education, served as the lead trainer and technical assistance provider for the state’s teachers, and worked with students at Camp Horseshoe providing service-learning training sessions. In 2008, the state Learn and Serve coordinator was Sallie Harrington, who served as SEA, alongside three other staff members leading service-learning activities across the state.

Community-based

A community-based grant funds Project FLOW (Future Leaders of Watersheds), a statewide service-learning program managed by Sherry Swint at VolunteerWV. In its third year in 2008-2009, the project seeks to involve youths with community-based organizations on projects related to watershed monitoring and improvement while helping encourage an ethic of service around watersheds. As well, the project - through collaborations with the Department of Education - is helping to expand service-learning in the state. Subgrantees from both programs meet during an annual conference and have regular cross-program professional development and networking opportunities.

In 2006-2007, the program involved nine subgrantees, with a total budget of $210,000. In the 2007-2008 year, $145,000 in subgrants were awarded to 14 subgrantees involving more than 800 students. In the 2008-2009 year, the commission plans to involve 12 subgrantees. The commission also awards a $5,000 "Ripple grant" to help jump start small-scale service-learning activity. Grant priority goes to projects involving at-risk youth populations, watershed quality issues, and intergenerational projects involving baby boomers. [1]

While specific projects vary based upon local community needs, most address the question, "What makes a healthy stream?" through water sampling, stream cleanups, and public education initiatives. Many projects are based in afterschool programs, while others have partnered with teachers to occur during the schoolday once or twice per week. In some cases, these small steps towards curriculum integration have led to principals or even school districts seeking expanded programming for all students from their community partners. Often times, schools see Project FLOW as a way to meaningfully integrate hands-on science and math learning into the curriculum.

Youth Contributions

Through the partnership between the Ohio/WV YMCA and the West Virginia State Department of Education, a Youth Action Council is operated in West Virginia. These are high school students who participate in activities such as Hi-Y, Youth in Government, Model State Supreme Court, and Model United Nations. The Youth Action Council members serve as advisors to policymakers. The Youth Action Council officers (high school students) are also given the opportunity to write grants for programs sponsored by the Ohio/WV YMCA. These mini-grants are awarded by the Ohio/WV YMCA and provide opportunities to participating high school students to provide community service and service learning activities that effect neighborhood improvement in local communities in West Virginia.

The members of the Youth Action Council also serve as volunteer camp counselors for the WV Governor’s Youth Opportunity Summer Camp, and the WV Free Enterprise Summer Camp, sponsored by the Ohio/WV YMCA, thus completing the “service to the community” requirement in service-learning.

Examples of Quality Service-Learning

References

  • Cairn, Rich, Neal, Marybeth, and Crossley, Alison. 2006. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2006. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
  • ^  "About Project FLOW." VolunterWV. Retrieved July 21, 2008 from http://www.volunteerwv.org/nd/index_projectflow.cfm.

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