Service-Learning is Key Component in Student Engagement

Every day we are inundated with images of what is wrong with our nation’s schools. Box office movies accentuate disengaged students and inattentive teachers, nightly news stories feature violence in our schools, and newspapers showcase article after article about failing schools all around us. The fact is our school system needs help. There are 76 million youth under the age of 18 in America and 1.2 million of those in high school will drop out this year. There are numerous reasons that students leave school but one of the largest is engagement. Students don’t feel welcome, they don’t connect with the teachers, or they don’t feel like they belong. Students who are engaged are far less likely to drop out than those who aren’t.

There isn’t one silver bullet to education reform, but at the National Youth Leadership Council we know something that is working. On September 13, 2012, The National Youth Leadership Council hosted a public briefing to discuss how the Guilford County school district in Greensboro, North Carolina achieved high levels of academic success by implementing a character development and service-learning initiative that engages the students themselves in their own education.

Service-learning can ignite the passion that teachers have for teaching and the wonder and creativity in youth. This approach to teaching and learning engages the community as the classroom and exposes students to new fields and professions. The Department of Education has made civic learning and engagement a priority because they know that innovative approaches like service-learning have the power to lower the dropout rate. 

At the National Youth Leadership Council we know that a high-quality service-learning opportunity not only engages students, but positions them as leaders in their own education. That is why we are working with members of Congress and national partners to look for opportunities to include service-learning in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind).  We want to make it easier for schools and teachers to utilize service-learning as a strategy and by ensuring it is part of the reauthorization, schools can have the resources they need to replicate the successes we are seeing in Guilford County.  In the words of Superintendent Maurice, “Mo” Green, “We cannot lose focus on we are developing children, developing young adults, and so the policies need to be sure that they allow for educators to do what they do best, be great educators.”

Service-learning isn’t the sole solution that will magically fix failing schools, but it is a proven strategy, that when combined with district-wide investment, supportive teachers and community members, and youth leadership, is making an important difference in schools around the world.

To learn more about the successes in Guilford County watch the abridged Hill Briefing video on YouTube or visit nylc.org/programs/public-policy-and-advocacy.