Create program goals for community service work-study and an evaluation plan to measure progress.

Campus professionals, students, and community supervisors should contribute to the creation of goals for the community service work-study program.

Consider making a realistic number of short- and long-term goals that are measurable, such as the number of students to complete community service work-study positions each year and the degree of satisfaction of stakeholders with the program.

Create a plan to evaluate the goals through a regularly scheduled process.

Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts

At Bentley, community service work-study students serve as project managers and project directors of community service-learning initiatives. These students are responsible for working in collaboration with community partner organizations to recruit and manage other student volunteers. As part of their role, students are asked to complete a self-assessment and evaluate community sites and supervisors. Community supervisors also are asked to evaluate the students. These evaluations take place in the middle and at the end of each semester, and the results are used to make program and site changes, as needed, to improve the program.

Jeanette MacInnes
Assistant Director
Service-Learning Center