The Impact of Service-Learning on Participants in Community-Based Organizations

Research questions examined variables addressing the impact of service-learning on participants in community-based organizations during the 1997 summer session. The researcher set out to determine whether young people engaged in service-learning programs were likely to be involved in other service organizations, whether they are likely to continue to enroll in service-learning programs, likely to be committed to participation in voluntary service as adults, whether they value their service-learning experience, see value to themselves and to the community, and if differences exist by ethnicity and gender. A survey instrument was mailed to the six program coordinators in the study for administration to those participants present on the selected day and 340 completed surveys were returned by participants who had completed fifth grade or above. Findings indicated that more than 75% of youth were involved in other organizations which provide service to the community with Church groups having the largest number of participants. One-fifth of the students were enrolled for their second summer of participation; over two-thirds are likely to volunteer again and over 75% were satisfied with their service-learning experience. Students found service-learning to be valuable to themselves with over 80% agreement to the majority of the items in the cluster measuring this variable. Over 85% of the participants saw their service as valuable to the community. No differences existed by gender in satisfaction with service-learning but girls saw their service-learning experience as being of more value to themselves and their community than did boys. Statistically significant differences were found in satisfaction with service-learning indicating that white students were more satisfied than black students and other ethnic groups and that white students saw their experience as being of more value to themselves and their community than did black students and students from other ethnic groups. The study contains implications for both practitioners and administrators