Long-Term Effects of Community Service Programs

Abstract

The need to develop connections between life in the school and that in the community is a recurring theme in educational literature. Of the many means for doing this, one of the more prominent is experiential learning or planned opportunities for learning outside the classroom (Hamilton 1980). Within the experiential learning concept, one variation which has received a good deal of attention is youth participation programs or community service projects (Olsen 1946; National Society for the Study of Education 1953; Harnack 1974; Coleman 1974; National Commission on Resources for Youth 1974). Such programs involve the active engagement of youth in attempts to improve local communities, and while these programs may be carried out under the auspices of any community agency, the focus here is on those sponsored by the school. Specific projects might include conducting surveys of community attitudes, making recommendations for solving environmental problems, and helping older persons and the like.