If Service-Learning is So Great, Why Doesn’t Everyone Use it?

1. The Providers' NetworkFostering Excellence in Service-Learning Professional Development If Service-Learning is So Great,Why Doesn’t Everyone Use it? James Toole, Ph.D. Compass Institute University of Minnesota Lake Superior Service-Learning Regional Conference
University of Wisconsin Superior • April 15, 2010

2. Ball Toss and PLCs

4. Large Share of Schools (Percentage of schools using service learning) Service Learning 48.7% Service Learning 38.6% Middle Schools High Schools Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Student Service-Learning and Community Service Survey, 1999.

5. Small Share of Teachers (Percentage of teachers using service learning) Users 6.6% Very few teachers are doers. At three quarters of the schools with service learning, 80% or more of the teachers don’t engage in the practice. The portion of all middle and high schools in which most of the teachers use service learning: 5%. Don’t Use Service Learning Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Student Service-Learning and Community Service Survey, 1999.

7. Strong Support Doesn’t Ensure Implementation Share of schools with or without the support where most of the students receive service learning Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Student Service-Learning and Community Service Survey, 1999. 7

8. What Else is Needed?

9. The Big Questions Individual Level Organizational Level Why are some schools more successful implementing service-learning than others? How do we support whole-school adoption? • Why do some teachers/ youth workers use service-learning and some not? • What are the implications for how we reach out to people?

10. Big Question #1 Individual Level • Why do some teachers/ youth workers use service-learning and some not?

12. How Are They Different??

13. How Are They Different?? • Age • Teaching Experience • Teaching Commitment • Gender • Beliefs about Teaching and Learning • Staff Development Involvement

15. Are There More Differences? Are the classrooms of those that do service-learning different from non-users even when they aren’t using service-learning?

16. Yes! There are Significant Differences

17. “What is most important to teach people is not behaviors or activities but cognitive.” “What drives what we do and say is our assumptions and beliefs about something.”Bob Garmston

18. The Importance of Assumptions “Regardless of what new method or latest technique is attempted, the mind/brain will always choose to reduce such practices to fit entrenched assumptions and beliefs.” Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine

20. Pioneers Versus Settlers

21. What are the Implications? If service-learning adoption is dependent on people’s deep pedagogical beliefs, what does this mean for professional development?

22. Behaviors Can be the Easiest Hospital Example Using a Procedure Checklist • Did we give the patient her antibiotics? • Did we introduce ourselves to one another? Benefits • Can reduce infections and deaths by one-third • Greater efficiency and teamwork

23. How do you reach people at deeper levels?

24. Levels of Intervention • Behaviors What? • Capabilities How? • BeliefsWhy? • Values • Meaning? • IdentityWho?

25. Behavior Change & Communication • Liver • Heart • Kidney • Sweetbreads

26. Service-Learning Questions • Behavior: What are the most important elements of teaching a service-learning lesson? • Capabilities: What strategies did you employ to foster youth voice? • Beliefs: Why do you think service-learning is an effective teaching strategy? • Values: Why is service important for youth? • Identity: How does service-learning relate to your personal sense of mission as a teacher?

27. Big Question #2 Organizational Level Why are some schools more successful implementing service-learning than others? How do we support whole-school adoption?

28. The Role of Organizational Culture

29. Reflection Differences: How might it be different to work in these two schools? Learning Impact: How different might it be to implement service-learning at the two sites?

30. Cultures Impact Implementation

32. The Plumbing (The “Hard” Part) Structures Systems Procedures Rules Controls Plans The Poetry (The “Soft” Part) People Attitudes Energy Buy-in Attitude towards change Fears Trust What is the Most Difficult Part?

33. “Individuals are almost indestructible, but organizations are very fragile.” • Farson,1996

34. “When I opened my first shop, I was looking for employees, but people showed up instead.” Anita Roddick, Founder of the Body Shop

35. Four Types of Cultures • Isolation • Balkanization • Contrived Collegiality • Community

36. What Do These Movies Have in Common?

37. High V. Low Performance Teams

38. Why Do We Care? The Teamwork Dividend WHEN: 1993 for Nine Months WHO: 23 New England heart surgeons WHAT: Observe each other regularly in the operating room and share their knowledge, insights, and approaches. RESULT: What happened to the mortality rate? Sources: New York Times National Staff Development Council

39. A Relationship-Rich Pedagogy • Teacher-Student • Student-Student • Student-Community • Teacher-Community • Cross-Age Work • Intergenerational

40. The Power of Social Trust • p<.05 **p<.01 *** p<.001 • N=216

41. Healthy And Innovative Workplaces • A place where I can pursue my passions. • A place where I am respected and valued. • A place where I get better at what I do. • A place where I can have an impact. • A place where I am part of a larger, healthy organization.

44. S Service-Learning in Middle Schools Service-Learning And Resilience Service as a Strategy To Close the Achievement Gap Civics-Based Service-Learning Service-Learning In Small Schools Service as a Strategy for Drop-Out Prevention