Campus Compact » Program Models Service By Issue – Education

Office for the Community Agenda: a model of campus support for community engagement

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

One of the clearest signs that an idea is valued on campus is that it has its own office. Just a few years ago, campuses with designated offices for community service were the exception. Today, they are the rule, with the vast majority of Campus Compact member institutions reporting that they have a centralized office for community service-learning on campus. Some of these centers focus on providing support to student service projects. Others provide support to faculty service-learning efforts. Still others focus on their relationship with the community.

The Office for the Community Agenda based at the Maricopa Community Colleges District puts a whole new twist on these models. Part community collaborator, part education reformer, part campus innovator the Office for the Community Agenda offers a distinctive example of campus support for community engagement.

The Office for the Community Agenda was founded in the spring of 1996 to directly advise Maricopa Chancellor Paul Elsner. Central to its founding mission was the support and initiation of community collaborations at the various community colleges overseen by Maricopa. Unlike most centers, however, the Office for the Community Agenda doesn t focus on maintaining programs. Instead, it works to generate new ideas and develop new collaborations which, once off the ground, can be sustained by other offices in the Maricopa District.

The office is regularly initiating studies and discussions with community groups to explore potential partnerships for the Maricopa campuses. In one case, through discussions with the mayor and city council of Phoenix and the Arizona Film Institute, the office initiated the construction of a multimedia/video production center. In another case, a study center was formed through a consortium of the Maricopa Community Colleges, the city of Phoenix, and the city s Fire Fighters Association to examine ways that Phoenix neighborhoods can be made or remain livable and viable. Another effort generated by the office focuses on ways to address the needs of Native American tribes in the Phoenix area.

A second aspect of the office s work is as education reformer. The office treats community engagement as an integral part of larger changes in education. Much of its initial work has focused on providing better educational service to urban and minority populations of youth and adults. This includes change both on and off campus. Off campus, the college has begun work with the community on projects such as an NFL Youth Education Training Center and the development of a proposed Urban Survival Program, both to be made available for all elementary and middle schools in Maricopa County. On campus, its work includes the creation of learning centers, and exploration of ideas like a College Without Cost, which uses volunteers and existing structures to deliver higher education at little or no cost.

The third role of the Office for the Community Agenda is as campus innovator. All of the work and ideas generated by the office are framed by its resolve to take a proactive and forward-thinking approach to education and community engagement. The Office for the Community Agenda bills itself, above all, as a medium for innovation to prepare to face and incorporate the paradigm shifts of the 21st century, planning change rather than accepting it, experimenting rather than waiting. Within this office, change on campus and in the community come together around an innovative attitude towards education.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: Office for the Community Agenda http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/comm/

The Junior Achievement curriculum: consultants in the classroom from the entire campus community

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As an all campus project GateWay Community College faculty, administrators, and professional support staffers teamed GWCC service-learning students to deliver the Junior Achievement curriculum to all K-8 students (24 classes) at our neighboring Crockett Elementary School. This is a first for Arizona where a community college has provided a consultant for every classroom at an elementary school.

This is an example of a true community partnership. In Fall 1999, outgoing President Randolph asked the college to identify a project that would involve our “”GateWay Family”" (our entire campus community). About that time, we received a call from the principal of our neighboring elementary school asking us to consider becoming community consultants to deliver the Junior Achievement curriculum to all classrooms at her school. Junior Achievement s mission of teaching children to value themselves, others, their education, and the American free enterprise system aligned perfectly with the the goals of our service-learning program. A representative from Junior Achievement met with our Service-learning Committee, a interdisciplinary group charged with overseeing service-learning activities on our campus and making related recommendations to the administration, to explain the program. The committee embraced the project and recommended to President Randolph that this would be our all campus spring project.

In January, President Randolph was reassigned to the MCCD District office as Acting Vice-Chancellor for Quality and Employee Development. Acting President Gaudet made the suggestion that we form teams of GWCC personnel and service-learning students. The call went out from President Gaudet and volunteers from all divisions came forward. While all volunteers saw the project as a way to fill an unmet need for an inner city school, faculty viewed it as an opportunity to partner with their students, students saw the project as a way to interact more informally with campus personnel and administrators had an opportunity to interact more with students. In less than two weeks, all 24 classes were assigned. President Gaudet volunteered to be consultant to an 8th grade class. (As an extension activity, he and the nursing faculty member who was the consultant to the other grade class, sponsored Career Awareness visit to the campus for the 8th grade students and their parents. Thirty-five participants spent three hours at the campus completing computer based career assessments and touring the campus.)

A core team with faculty representation from each instructional division and the Director of Community Partnership Programs participated in a training workshop with the teachers from the elementary school and went through a Junior Achievement provided train-the-consultant workshop. Team members in turn provided training to campus volunteers. During the next three months, teams made 6-8 visits to their assigned classrooms to deliver the citizenship lessons. The evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive and about 75% of the consultants have asked to participate next year.

Our campus has decided to continue the project. Ideally, children who spend their K-8 years at Crockett Elementary will have nine years of citizenship and stay in school messages. We also see it as an opportunity to informally mentor our future civic leaders and our future GateWay students. We are certain that there will be additional related service-learning opportunities at the school.

Website: www.gwc.maricopa.edu/partnerships

CSU Monterey Bay America Reads Program

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

CSUMB participates in the America Reads initiative through its active membership in the Monterey County America Reads Task Force and through the coordination of our work study students and service learners in literacy work in two school districts. The Task Force includes all institutions of higher education in the county. The Task Force is fortunate to have 2 Vistsa volunteers coordinating placements for all members. This year, as a new university, we have has a very small work study pool and have hired four work-study students as America Reads tutors. We also devote a section of our required lower division course, SL 200 Introduction to Service in Multicultural Communities to America Reads theme: Youth and Literacy. Each semester 20-22 students are placed in the Monterey Peninsula Unified or Alisal Union school districts as volunteer tutors at the second and third grade level. MPUSD and Alisal Union have become enthusiastic partners and offer excellent on-going training for both the work study students and the service learners. Each semester we sponsor a reflection for both the work study students and the service learners.

CSU San Marcos America Reads Program

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planning for the CSUSM America Reads program began in 1996-1997 and primarily involved service learning faculty from the College of Education, Dean Steve Littly (COE), the Financial Aid Office, and the Office of Community Service Learning. This planning was coordinated with the CSUSM Pre-Collegiate Academic Development program which also involved COE faculty as well as faculty from Literature and Writing and Mathematics, and staff from Student Outreach.

The result from the planning was the development of two service learning courses (one for America Reads and a second for PAD). America Reads Tutors are required to take their course during their first semester of work, as well as a second semester follow-up/monitoring course. The America Reads course teaches students about literacy development and provides training on tutoring, learning, and professionalism.

There are 25 work study students who perform 20 hours per week of literacy assistance in some 20 elementary schools located in Escondido and Oceanside. Students are selected from the list of potential work-study students who are Liberal Studies majors (pre-teaching). They are invited to an orientation session and then must apply. They also go through an interview process before they are selected.

Community Service Learning Program website: http://www.csusm.edu/ocsl/

High Schools in the 21st Century course: Pre-service teachers and K-12 Community Engagement

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Community engagement is an important element of education not only at the college or university level, but at the K-12 level as well. Through High Schools in the 21st Century, students in their first semester of teacher education at California State University, San Marcos, are introduced to concepts underlying community engagement in K-12 school reform. Students engage in a service project through which they identify and work closely with a local community agency. In reflecting on their experience, students explore how they could use service-learning placements in their own teaching, and develop lesson plans that incorporate the community agency they worked with as part of a hypothetical K-12 course.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact:
College of Education-Student Services
333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Rd
San Marcos, CA 92096-0001
(760) 750-4277

Community Service Learning Program website: http://www.csusm.edu/ocsl/

Joint Educational Project

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Founded in 1972, the Joint Education Project facilitates partnerships between USC and a number of local educational agencies, ranging from elementary schools to adult education programs. Each semester, JEP places USC undergraduates from approximately 65 academic courses in these schools. The student volunteers provide support for classroom teachers, and have an opportunity for practical application for their adademic skills. The program is also open to work-study students. Most recently, it became an active participant in the nationwide America Reads program.

Website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/JEP/

Research and empowerment: faculty help parents design a survey

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When parents of children at three elementary schools in San Jose, California, wanted to improve education for their children, faculty from San Jose State University helped them to create their own research effort. The faculty helped them to design and administer a telephone survey to examine the accessibility and helpfulness of elementary school teachers. The parents then took charge conducting the survey in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese in order to include all the language groups in the area. After studying the results, they were able to identify the key obstacles to parent-teacher communication and use these to suggest changes.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

The Preuss School

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The University of California at San Diego doesn’t just help a local school, it owns one. The Preuss School, on the UCSD campus, is the nation’s first charter school created by a university and dedicated to serving poor minority students. Preuss has access to the resources of UCSD, such as its supercomputers and it’s students, who volunteer to tutor at Preuss.

The impetus for Preuss came in the wake of California’s 1998 ban on affirmative action, which caused UCSD’s minority enrollment to drop a quarter. The university looked to recruit minority students through the traditional methods–faculty visits, fancy websites and brochures–but had little faith that these efforts would yield much. So UCSD started from scratch, donating land worth $8 million and securing $13 million in private donations to build Preuss and prepare its prospective minority students. The state and local school district agreed to pay faculty salaries and operating expenses. The school opened in fall 1999 with 150 students, out of 500 who applied, all of whom are poor enough to qualify for subsidized lunches. BY 2004, Preuss will serve 700 students in grades six through twelve.

Website: http://preuss.ucsd.edu/
Excerpted from Time Magazine’s “”Build It Yourself”", by Andrew Goldstein and reported by Jacqueline Savaiano. January 8, 2001

Adams State College Science and History Fair

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each year the Math and Science departments host a science fair for middle and high school students. Following the Math fair is the History Day, which is sponsored by the History, Government, and Political Science departments. These events draw an average of 600 students from around the Valley.

Contact: Ericha Loosbrock at .ealoosbr {at} adams(.)edu or 719.587.7400

Aprender Mediante Amistad (Learning Through Friendship): helping families new to the United States

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Aprender Mediante Amistad (Learning Through Friendship), a program at Colorado College, students tutor and build friendships with families new to the United States. Two evenings a week, the group of college students meets with adult immigrants and their children to tutor them one-on-one in reading, math, and computer skills. Following the tutoring sessions, the group as a whole meets to play games in Spanish and English designed to build self-esteem and confidence. On Friday evenings, students meet with the families for a weekly movie night. Taken together, these activities serve to educate both the college students and their students about one another s culture.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: www2.coloradocollege.edu/Students/Pathfinder/Opportunities/OtherOrganizations.html

Developing alternative schools

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As school districts realize that they cannot give up on their failing students, new alternatives are being offered to help these youth succeed. In Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado is part of a team of community organizations and schools offering a new program specifically designed for students who have been expelled or adjudicated in the county. The program, which will serve 400 to 500 such youth, includes a number of educational recreational activities, lessons taught by various community organizations, mentoring relationships with college students, and an alternative middle school and high school in which students engage in hands-on lessons and are encouraged to pace their own learning.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Durango Latino Education Coalition

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

FLC’s service learning center assisted the Durango Latino Education Coalition in writing and receiving a $250,000 grant over five years from the Colorado Trust. This grant will support and sustain the work of the DLEC and the Los Amigos tutoring program.

Kalin Gregg and Jennifer Stark at the Center for Service Learning 970.247.7641 or grigg_k {at} fortlewis(.)edu

Education centers for community members on welfare

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The knowledge and skills that institutions of higher education provide their students translate into power: the power to be active members of their communities; the power to participate in the workforce; the power to be independent. Yet, just outside the doors of many urban colleges and universities are populations of people that are unable to participate and unable to achieve independence because they lack this power.

In Colorado, the Community College of Denver has responded to this reality by offering programs specially designed to meet the needs of community members who are on welfare. Through some modifications of the educational programming that it already offers, the college is able to provide the access, support, and individual attention that help meet the needs of this population.

The programs are offered at three of the college s technical education centers, each of which is located in a neighborhood with a high concentration of welfare recipients. Each year, the centers serve 2,000 welfare clients. The particular needs of the centers students demand a nontraditional method of instruction. Each center has been designed as a learning laboratory, a place where students work at their own pace according to their own schedule. Since participants often need to take breaks from their education in order to accept offers of immediate temporary employment, the program has been designed to allow them to leave and re-enter without disrupting the certification process.

Empowerment often requires more than just education. Basic job training is augmented with individual support and attention. Each student s program is designed to meet individual needs, and each student is assigned a case manager, who works with that student throughout the program.

After students complete the program, the college maintains a supportive role. If students choose to seek employment, they are offered assistance through the technical education centers. In some cases, the technical education center has identified local employers who have agreed to hire a certain number of graduates from the program. Job coaching is also available for students as they begin their new jobs. Students who wish to continue their education are given the option of enrolling at the college to pursue an associate s degree.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Educational Alliance of Pueblo

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Established in 1991, the Educational Alliance of Pueblo is a cooperative agreement between USC and Pueblo School District No. 60. The alliance focuses on improving the quality of education in Pueblo from pre-kindergarted through higher education, by combining and sharing resources.

Internet writing center

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Service-Learning Program at CU-Boulder is both well established and growing. We offer an exciting array of courses that present students with diverse service-learning opportunities. Currently, over 35 faculty and 1000 students participate in service-learning annually, partnering with hundreds of community organizations and each semester, more faculty in more disciplines join us. We are especially proud of the internet writing center we helped to create and support. It connects high school students to business and University commentators to help them gain perspective on their writing skills and to allow CU students to share their growing knowledge about writing efficacy with high school student writers.

Contact person: Dr. Robin Crews, Director of Service-Learning, crews {at} csf.colorado(.)edu

Office of Service Learning: http://csf.colorado.edu/sl/cu/cu-osl.html

K-12 Education Initiative

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Regis University currently partners with three parochial and three public elementary and middle schools to provide daytime and after-school tutors to school-based literacy programs. These program have received program design and implementation expertise from faculty and staff at the Univesity, as well as financial and administrative support. These programs involve approximately 300 school children and 70 Regis students each year. This community outreach is in addition to the teacher education programs that the University coordinates.

Contact: Center for Service Learning Mary Ellen Carroll at mcarroll {at} regis(.)edu or 303.458.3550

Engagement with a Boys & Girls Club located on campus

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Trinity College believes that its liberal arts curriculum and urban location are a powerful combination and provide the basis for distinctive learning opportunities that challenge and inspire students to become critical thinkers and active, engaged citizens.

A fine example of the opportunities that exist is the Boys & Girls Club at Trinity College. The Club is the first Boys & Girls Club in the country to be located on a college campus, and Trinity students fill all of its volunteer positions. Trinity students also are involved in the Club through internships, service-learning, and research. They serve the needs of more than 300 inner-city, low-income children who have enrolled in the Club since its opening in February. In true community spirit, the Club s construction was financed with gifts from Hartford-area corporations, foundations and individuals, including Trinity College trustees. The Club also was the first new building to be constructed as part of a neighborhood renewal effort spearheaded by Trinity College that calls for three new schools, a family resource center, new home ownership opportunities, job training, support for existing retail establishments, and new business assistance.

Retired General Colin Powell, now chairman of America s Promise: The Alliance for Youth, participated in the dedication of the Club and designated Trinity as the nation s first “”College of Promise.”" He said that Trinity s “”commitment to improving the quality of life in Hartford and to helping the city s young people dream and believe they, too, might someday attend college and live the American dream is exemplary. What are the other hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country doing on behalf of at-risk youth? Why can t they all be Colleges and Universities of Promise?”"

The Club s activities are focused on education and the development of social skills, using Trinity students as teachers, role models and mentors. The activities include daily homework sessions; recreation that fosters team-spirit; positive competition and social skills; arts and crafts; a computer club that uses academic-oriented software; a newsletter; a percussion workshop; and a Saturday basketball league. The newest addition is a wilderness club that involves students and staff in educational trips and outings to foster positive relationships, an awareness of nature and the environment, self-awareness, character-building and self-esteem.

This program offers Trinity students an opportunity to use their skills and their athletic, intellectual, artistic and teaching/tutoring talents for the benefit of a community in need. Students engaged at the Boys & Girls Club become increasingly civic-minded; they become more aware of the real issues and problems of inner-cities. Although it happens outside the classroom, this represents true and invaluable learning, and it stimulates intellectual inquiry, civic action and leadership. This process helps mold Trinity students into responsible, involved, caring, and effective leaders of the future. It builds citizens who are more concerned about solving social problems than just studying and talking about them.

Contact person: Angel Huertas, Unit Director, Boys & Girls Club at Trinity College, yankee {at} hotmail(.)com
Web site: http://www.learningcorridor.org/bgc.htm

Fusing campus and community: The Learning Corridor

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Some schools forge change out in the community, some invite members of the community onto campus. Under the leadership of President Evan Dobelle, Trinity College has fused these twin models. In partnership with Hartford residents and local and national organizations from the public and private sector, Trinity has begun the development of a new joint college and neighborhood campus. The Learning Corridor is a geographic center for neighborhood revitalization with a special focus on improved education and housing opportunities. President Dobelle describes the partnership as a chance to do collectively what we [universities] do best individually: serving, educating, and empowering people.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: http://www.trincoll.edu/pub/heights/education.htm

Partnership with Leon County Schools

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Florida State University has entered into a new phase of assistance with the local school district, Leon County Schools (LCS). This partnership agreement, which includes Florida A&M University, is further evidence of the university s commitment to working with the district to make improvements in its low achieving schools and to better prepare future teachers for challenging assignments.

For many years FSU has worked well with the school district to achieve their mutual agenda. The new agreement sets forth a “”professional development schools network”" with the intent of reforming schools, developing exemplary models for teacher and administrator preservice and inservice education, and achieving the highest quality educational results. Through the implementation of this partnership special attention and resources will be focused on the southside schools, most of which are in neighborhoods nearby the campus and most of which are lower achieving than other schools in the district.

The collaboration is managed by a highly experienced former principal reporting to the provost and is overseen by a steering committee comprised of the university presidents, superintendent, education and arts and science deans. Advice is provided by two committees broadly representing interests and disciplines: the professional development school committee and the outreach advisory committee. A needs assessment undertaken among the southside school administrators provided important guidance for the new initiative.

Early projects include establishing professional development school relationships among the College of Arts and Science, the Colleges of Education, and several “”high needs”" elementary and middle schools which focus on reading and literacy. Technology training is being provided by the university this summer to support these efforts. Several joint proposals have been written to provide resources to support the work of the partnership.

One visible example of the partnership is the mentoring program through which faculty and staff have committed to working with youngsters in southside schools. Both the FSU president and the LCS superintendent have chosen to mentor to demonstrate their support for the program.

For further information contact Dr. Laura Hassler, K-12 Initiatives Director or go to http://www.fsu.edu/~k12.

Piloting the Project Citizen Mentor Initiative

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Center for Civic Education selected M-DCC to help develop and pilot their Project Citizen Mentor initiative. This entailed training middle school and M-DCC teachers in the Project Citizen curriculum; recruiting and training 20 M-DCC students as mentors for the middle school students; hosting a Mayoral Exchange that brought 12 mayors, 200 middle school students, and M-DCC student mentors to the College to share their public policy work.

Website: http://www.mdcc.edu/cci/images/Project%20Citizen.pdf