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According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics, approximately 20% of the United States' high-school aged population is at risk of dropping out of high school, an outcome that strongly limits participation in economic and educational opportunities. The importance of earning a high school diploma has increased many local districts' efforts to close graduation gaps across the student population. Accordingly, this study evaluated a recuperative environmental leadership and service (EL&S) program in a northwestern local district to ascertain its effectiveness in providing at-risk students the personal and academic support required for high school graduation. Following the logic model program theory, this study examined the program's effectiveness in redirecting off-track students by comparing on time (4 year) and extended-time (> 4 years) graduation rates of at-risk students who did participate (n = 96) and did not participate (n = 76) in the EL&S. Through an ANCOVA, the 4 year and extended graduation rates, 68.3% and 89.1%, respectively, were analyzed and found to be higher than the on-time and extended-time graduation rates for the local district, 65.8% and 68.5%. Results indicated that the EL&S does statistically increase the participants' likelihood of graduating from high school. These findings illustrate the utility of EL&S interventions for at-risk students who have experienced multiple indicators of educational failure. Replication or adaptation of this EL&S program could provide social change benefits to educational stakeholders seeking to close the graduation gap; to families seeking educative and personal support for at-risk students; and to struggling students desiring to contribute to the economic, educative, and social growth of their community.

Das Lehr-Lern-Projekt “Medien und Asyl” kombinierte Forschungs- und Anwendungsbezug in der universitären Hochschullehre. Der Beitrag diskutiert die didaktischen Herausforderungen eines solchen Lehrforschungsprojekts mit Service Learning- Orientierung, und wie diese adressiert wurden. In der Darstellung des Ablaufs wird der konsekutive Charakter des dreisemestrigen Projekts deutlich. Die finale Phase der Medienkonzeption wird dabei ausführlicher vorgestellt. Abschließend wird die Bedeutung fortlaufender Evaluation und Anpassung des Projektablaufs als methodischer Schlüssel zum Gelingen identifiziert.

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The purpose of this case study was to investigate the effects a service-learning tutorship had on the Social and Personal Responsibility Scale scores of middle school students identified as at risk for emotional and behavioral problems and enrolled in a one hour class that focused on social skills, self-management, and emotional resilience. Eight students identified through school-wide screening measures as at-risk for emotional and behavioral problems were involved in a pre/post quantitative survey, pre/post exploratory interviews, and a post focus group to analyze their level of growth in relation to social and personal responsibility. Currently, there is a limited amount of research identifying the influence service-learning has on students at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. This case-study found that service-learning is an effective tool at helping students increase their level of competence in relation to social and personal responsibility. Limitations of this study are addressed, suggestions for future research are noted, and implications for execution of future service-learning ventures are discussed.

Research in higher education service-learning suggests that there is a positive relationship between service-learning and student learning outcomes as well as a positive relationship between students‘ interactions with the ―real world‖ through service-learning and the effects of these experiences on deepening students‘ knowledge in their disciplines. Recent studies have established this positive relationship between service-learning and university composition and literature students. However, aside from the existing literature on service-learning and composition and writing, there has been virtually no examination of the relationship between service-learning and creative writing. The purpose of this study was to investigate how seven creative writing students experienced the process of creative writing differently after engaging in service-learning in a creative writing course at a large, urban university in the southeastern United States and to determine if students experienced a transformative learning experience as indicated by Mezirow‘s (2000) transformational learning theory. This research study employed an instrumental narrative case study design to determine how seven university creative writing students experienced the process of creative writing differently after taking a creative writing course with an optional service-learning component. The results of the study indicated that service-learning invoked a transformative learning experience in these seven higher education creative writing students, each in different ways—some in their writing processes and writing content, some in how they reflected upon themselves and their writing in relation to the ―outside world,‖ and some in their sense of civic duty

The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) is an organization that utilizes outdoor, project-based learning and critical service learning techniques to support young people in completing large-scale conservation and farming projects statewide. This study aimed to examine the perceived mental health effects of participating in the VYCC, the strategies in the organization that may have led to those changes, and feasible ways for educators to bring those methods into the post-pandemic classroom. Now is an important time to study youth organizations that may have already been having a positive effect on youth mental health, especially because of the negative effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people’s mental health. A phenomenological qualitative research study was used to examine the perceived mental health effects of the VYCC, the aspects of the organization that led to those changes, and the feasibility of bringing these strategies into the classroom setting. This researcher interviewed five first-time participants in the VYCC throughout their summer experiences, focusing on their perceived mental health and whether they reported changes throughout the summer, as well as the programming that could have led to those changes. This researcher interviewed five recent alumni of the VYCC who currently or recently worked with young people about the lessons or strategies that they took from their VYCC experience into their current or recent work with young people. The study revealed the following results in terms of the VYCC’s perceived effects on mental health, what may have led to those changes, and feasible strategies for the post-pandemic classroom: ● Most VYCC participants in this study reported an increase in confidence and self-efficacy, particularly because of the project-based nature of the work. ● Participants reported decreases in perceived anxiety from the project-based, outdoor nature of the work and the supportive relationships with crew members. ● The nature of the work in the VYCC, in terms of its impact on local communities and tangible results led to increased feelings of joy, pride, satisfaction, and accomplishment. ● Working with people of varying abilities led to both increased stress and feelings of connectedness and empathy for others. ● Negative feedback, breakdowns in communication, and pressure to lead those with varying needs and accomplish projects without feeling properly supported led to feelings of frustration, stress, burnout, and increased anxiety. ● Participants in this study examined their own strengths, personalities, and self-image as a result of the reflective nature of the program. The following results relate to the feasibility of bringing strategies or lessons from the VYCC into the classroom: ● The VYCC inspired participants to teach their own students that the process of learning was just as important as the end product, and that mistakes were opportunities for growth in the learning process. ● The VYCC instilled a strengths-based perspective in alumni participants, and they found that maintaining that perspective in the classroom was beneficial to their students. ● The VYCC crew experience helped participants to view others as holistic beings, and inspired them to get to know their students on a personal level in order to make connections and to build a culture of belonging in their classrooms. ● Alumni participants learned that not every style of communication works well with every student; it is important to try various communication styles with students who learn differently. ● The alumni reported that it was important for teachers to instill in their students a sense of joy of discovery and praise curiosity, encouraging them to celebrate when they learn something new or see something in a different way. ● Alumni participants found that the VYCC experience helped them to learn they should prioritize guiding students in discovering their passions and exploring unique pathways to achieving their own definitions of success. The findings in this study were consistent with the literature on project-based learning, outdoor education, and critical service learning’s positive effects on intrinsic motivation, student engagement, and deeper learning (Einfeld et al., 2008; Grant, 2002; James & Williams, 2017; Kokatsaki et al., 2016; Krsmanovic, 2021; Mackenzie et al., 2017; Myers-Lipton, 1998; Smith & Walsh, 2019). The findings in this study added to the limited literature on the Youth Conservation Corps experience, shining light on its perceived effects on the participants in this study’s mental health (Creed et al., 1996; Dickerson, 1977; Driver & Johnson, 1984; Hamilton & Stewart, 1978; Sayegh et al., 2019). The study indicated the positive effects that project-based learning (PBL) can have on perceived anxiety and self-efficacy of participants in this study, which adds to the research on the mental health effects of PBL (Erdem, 2012; Miguel & Carney, 2022; Samsudin et al., 2020; Shin, 2018). This research also uncovered multiple strategies and lessons from the VYCC model that have already been successfully used in the classroom setting.

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