The community effects of service-learning

The previous research on service-learning and community engagement in higher education demonstrates that the practice has a small, but consistent effect on college student participants. Far less is known about the effects of these practices on the communities where universities engage and most of the work to date has been descriptive in nature. This dissertation uses three nationally representative datasets to examine community outcomes in places that host members of the Campus Compact, the largest and the oldest organization supporting university-community engagement in the United States. The results point to measurable impacts on social mobility, social capital, and educational test scores attributable to the presence of engaged institutions of higher education and contributes among the first quantitative studies of community impact of engagement from higher education. This dissertation also tests the observable implications of the elimination of federal funding for higher education service-learning that demonstrates the important role that federal policy played in producing positive effects in communities.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vit