Educators embrace service-learning as a strategy for improving learning
Friday, March 26, 2010
By: Caryn Pernu

National Youth Leadership Council/Harris survey shows they just need to know about it.

SAINT PAUL, MINN., March 25, 2010 -- It's no surprise that many Americans believe that high schools in the United States need to improve how they are teaching both academic subjects and the skills students need to succeed in life. What may be more surprising is that a relatively unfamiliar teaching method--service-learning--could be an effective solution to improving learning.

These are some of the findings of a new National Youth Leadership Council/Harris Interactive survey of 2,323 U.S. adults conducted online by Harris Interactive from February 24 to February 26, 2010, using Harris Interactive's QuickQuery Omnibus.

"Service-learning combines classroom instruction with reflection and meaningful service to the community," said Jim Kielsmeier, NYLC's founder, president, and CEO. "Teachers familiar with the method say it has powerful classroom results, and educational research backs that up."

Survey results were released at the 21st Annual National Service-Learning Conference in San Jose, Calif., March 25, 2010, at the San Jose Convention Center. Key findings include:

The public believes U.S. high schools need to improve. Respondents gave schools mean grades of C- to D+ in teaching academic subject areas and a C in teaching skills needed in today's workplace.

One possible solution for improvement is service-learning, but familiarity with the concept is low, even among educators. Two-thirds of the public are not at all familiar with or have never heard of service-learning. Only 47% of pre-K-12 educators and 18% of parents with school-age children said they were familiar, very familiar or extremely familiar with service-learning.

Once educators and parents are introduced to the concept of service-learning, the value is clear. The large majority of educators and parents agree that service-learning could be an effective method for teaching future workplace skills as well as academic subjects.

"These results underscore the need to dial up the knowledge about service-learning to all those with interest and involvement in our children's education," said Justin Greeves, Senior Vice President of Harris Interactive's Public Affairs and Policy group. "The public at large, as well as parents and those in the education community see service-learning as one of several effective solutions to improve education in high schools today."

Members of the press interested in learning more about the survey, attending the release at the National Service-Learning Conference, or locating teachers and schools participating in high-quality service-learning can contact Caryn Pernu at NYLC at cpernu@nylc.org or (651) 999-7353.

Survey Methodology
Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) from February 24-26, 2010 via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2323 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, and household income. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with non-response, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100 percent response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About the National Youth Leadership Council
NYLC has been at the helm of advancing service-learning and supporting its practitioners -- young people and adults -- for more than 25 years. In addition to convening about 2,200 educators and youth at the annual National Service-Learning Conference, NYLC runs the Generator School Network (gsn.nylc.org, a national community of schools committed to high-quality service-learning), creates service-learning resources and professional development opportunities for educators and youth, and advocates for improving education. For more information, please visit www.nylc.org.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us and our clients stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.