Compact for Learning and Citizenship
Who Will Benefit?

Helping students become citizens and communities become educators.

Who Will Benefit?

The Compact for Learning and Citizenship provides a range of benefits for a variety of constituents.

K-12 Students
"We not only know the Pythagorean Theorem, we have used it." Student planning for a city park

• Enhance citizenship, character, civic and leadership skills

• Increase academic and vocational achievement

• Develop a sense of connection to the community.

District Superintendents and Chief State School Officers
"I saw the need to engage students in their learning. My fear was that standards would make learning so mechanized, so compartmentalized that it would just take the life out of learning. I thought we might become so obsessed with needing to obtain standards that we would forget what truly motivates kids to learn. Service-learning showed us a way to obtain standards and still maintain a creative and compelling learning environment. It helps students find meaning in their academic work, and we know that children, as well as all human beings, learn best when their learning has meaning to them." Roger Rada, superintendent of Nestucca Valley School District, Oregon

• Highlight district and state policy and service-learning efforts

• Support district and state efforts through research and policy

• Encourage education leaders to discuss comprehensive issues for integrating service and service-learning into schools and communities.

K-12 Teachers
"I can't emphasize enough how important this is that a young person walk into a class with an idea that they can have success. We use (service-learning) to get their feet walking again in education after they've been laid up with an academic accident." Bob Black, teacher at Baltimore's Harbor City Learning Center

• Develop affinity among service-learning teachers

• Provide service-learning resources, including best practices, research findings and strategies to use community resources

• Contribute to professional growth by providing high-quality opportunities for teachers to participate in training sessions and to author papers and articles.

K-12 Schools

"Service-learning not only helps students grow and develop individually, but it also helps them to share their learning and gifts with the community and, thus, make the world a better place. It teaches them that they do make a difference." Ann Southworth, principal, Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts

• Develop a school climate and culture more conducive toeffective school, family, business and community partnerships

• Create ongoing relationships and models of collaborationschools and community.

Communities
"This project has touched a lot of children and a lot of parents. It keeps blooming and gets richer and richer. Every year it will start over.the growing and sharing and giving back to the community will be there. That is the beauty of the garden." Community member and volunteer describing a garden planned and planted by students

• Provide safer and healthier communities as a result of student, school and community contributions

• Reduce number of disconnected and disaffected youth, resulting in communities that honor students and expect positive contributions

• Increase the perception of youth as resources rather than problems.

Higher Education

"The bond between service-learning and teacher education is so obvious and so direct that it cannot be ignored by college of education faculty and administrators." Steve Lilly, dean, College of Education, California State University, San Marcos

• Identify and share key elements of comprehensive K-12 and higher education service-learning collaborations

• Increase integration of service-learning in teacher preparation programs

• Highlight mutual benefits and models of K-16 service-learning collaborations.