Recently community agencies, politicians and government agencies, professional organizations, and various resource centers around the country have joined in promoting these programs, which help students use service opportunities as a source of significant learning. At the local level, school boards and district administrators are often the least educated about this effective alternative to traditional schooling. Board members and administrators may not be supportive if they do not understand the concept or if they have misconceptions about how the program will be implemented or conducted. This article will present some aspects of service-learning which are often of concern to board members and district administrators. We focus here on how to address these concerns and turn them into support for service-learning.
Boards often see school curriculum as strictly academic learning.
If they include extracurricular programs, then they may see service-learning as just another club and not central to a person's education. Teachers need to convince them that service-learning is not a fringe program or less important than the traditional academic programs. Explain that service-learning can often motivate students to do better work in their other subjects or classes. It can give students a picture of why school is important. Explain that service-learning, if tied in with other school subjects or courses, can help students learn more easily because it is experiential learning.