Assessing Service-Learning in Teacher Education.

An Overview of Service-Learning in Teacher Education In preservice teacher education programs throughout the country, service-learning is proliferating. A survey conducted by the National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (1998) reported that more than 225 of the approximately 1,200 teacher education programs in the nation offer service-learning experiences, and another 200 are interested in developing such opportunities for pre-service teachers. Although interest and engagement in preservice teacher service-learning continues to grow, some faculty remain skeptical of service-learning theory and practice, demanding stronger evidence for the value of engaging in this curricular activity (Gelmon, Holland, Driscoll, Spring, & Kerrigan, 2001; Wade, et al., 1999). Service-learning is the integration of community service activities with academic skills, content, and reflection on the service experience (Cairn & Kielsmeier, 1999). It combines meaningful service within a community with formal educational curriculum. Service-learning stands in sharp contrast to traditional community service in that it includes reflection and extends naturally from organized school curricula. The service-learning experience is mutually beneficial to all who are involved in its development and implementation. In practice, service-learning can be described as follows. Preservice teachers enrolled in a biology course are learning nutritional basics and are encouraged to apply that learning in meaningful ways. They resolve to develop a healthy diet for people recovering from cancer. They purposely and deliberately work with a community food bank and provide nutritional seminars demonstrating how people can make healthy meals and food choices that include those known to fight off cancer. Throughout the planning and implementation of the service-learning project, the preservice teachers reflect on their work and its effect on themselves, the community food bank and its constituents. Many researchers acknowledge that the relationship between academic achievement through preservice teacher service-learning activities and assessment, evaluation and reporting has been problematic (Steinke & Buresh, 2002; Moore, 1999; Eyler & Giles,1999; Mabry, 1998; Pritchard, 2002; Troppe, 1995). Shumer (2002) suggested that service-learning is a form of qualitative research. However, the needs of preservice teacher service-learning and researchers can provide motivation to make the changes that can improve the problematic relationships between service-learning activities and assessment, evaluation and reporting. To achieve this end, teacher educators in concert with their preservice teachers can design, implement, and assess or evaluate quality service-learning projects. Service-learning projects should include: (a) criteria that distinguishes between community service and service-learning (Pritchard, 2002); (b) assessment, evaluation and reporting process that emphasize continuous improvement throughout the service-learning activity (DeZure, 2002); (c) assessment techniques that measure impact on individuals and the organizations served, including the preservice teacher (Troppe, 1995); and (d) deliberate recognition that the relationship between service-learning activities and standards-based reform is crucial to the continued survival of service-activities in teacher education (Pritchard, 2002). In many instances, the educational response to this call for improved assessment or service-learning activities has been to develop preservice teacher portfolios in field-based courses that address learning outcomes. However, preservice teacher portfolios have done little to address the inconsistency between subjective responses to service-learning activities and the more objective measures embedded in standards-based assessments. Teacher educators critique preservice teacher portfolios as too labor intensive to produce, monitor, support and evaluate. …