Introduction to the Section: Student Outcomes (Primary, Secondary and Higher Education)

The section editors of the Student Outcomes section report with appreciation on the abundance of high quality research and theoretical literature that is currently available on student outcomes of service-learning and community engagement. Today’s research is less atheoretical and narrowly focused on specific courses and outcomes of interest and better grounded in more sophisticated conceptualizations about the effects of student participation in service-learning and community engagement and an empirically stronger knowledge base. The section editors introduce five articles that exemplify these positive trends, including two replications and extensions of previous work. The section editors then challenge scholars of service-learning to broaden the scope of future studies by contextualizing them within global issues facing society and presenting the role that education faculty and community engagement professionals might play in addressing these issues. They provide a unique model for designing and conducting these future investigations