Learn & Serve America - Nebraska
Learn & Serve America - Nebraska
About the Program
Introduction: The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) is authorized to distribute federal funds provided through the CNCS to local educational agencies. Grants supported by the Learn and Serve America program are designed to promote service-learning in communities.
Service-Learning: The Corporation uses the interpretation provided in the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, which defines service-learning as an educational method that:
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is conducted in and meets the needs of a community;
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is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and
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helps foster civic responsibility; and that
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is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled; and
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provides structured time for the students or participants to reflect on the service experience.
Service-learning is a teaching strategy in which students address community problems. Like any effective teaching strategy, service-learning is designed to help students acquire core course content and skills. Unlike other teaching strategies, service-learning places as much emphasis on community improvement as on student growth. Service-learning students make use of course material to do important work on pressing community needs. As a result of high-quality service-learning, students benefit by seeing practical uses for their studies and communities benefit by having needs addressed. Through service-learning students develop civic competencies, knowledge, and dispositions that lead to a lifetime of civic engagement and service to community. (Learn and Serve America School-Based 2006 NOFO, p. 3)
In the context of the Learn and Serve America program, it has been noted that service-learning is not:
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An episodic volunteer program
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An add-on to an existing school or college curriculum
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Logging a set number of community service hours in order to graduate
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Compensatory service assigned as a form of punishment by the courts or by school administrators
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Only appropriate for high school or college students
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One-sided in that it benefits only students or the community
Guidelines from the Corporation for National and Community Service: The Learn and Serve America (LSA) program expects all grantees to have a positive impact on participants in at least one of three areas: 1) civic engagement, 2) academic engagement, and/or 3) avoidance of risky behaviors. Service activities must be of sufficient duration (at least twenty hours a semester), engage students in effective reflection, and be available throughout a student's education in order to have significant impact. Applicants should address who will coordinate service activities, whether they are teachers, students, adult volunteers, or community agency representatives, and how the coordinators will be trained and supported. Applicants should discuss how they will promote respect and tolerance by providing students with the opportunity to serve with others from diverse backgrounds (e.g. differences in age, ability level, ethnicity, English proficiency, religion, economic status, and disability). Applicants should ensure that their projects include opportunities for youth voice and leadership. Students should have a decision-making role in all aspects of the project, from conception through evaluation. (Learn and Serve America School-Based 2006 NOFO pp. 23-24)