often, and increase their attendance and grade point 
averages. 
(7) Service-learning has been shown to reduce 
the achievement gap in schools. 
(8) Students who engage in service-learning im-
prove their communication skills, increase their 
awareness of career possibilities, have a deeper un-
derstanding of social and economic issues that face 
the Nation, and develop more positive workplace at-
titudes, giving the students skills to be strong lead-
ers. 
(9) 82 percent of students who participated in 
service-learning programs say their feelings about 
attending high school became more positive as a re-
sult of service-learning. 
(10) 77 percent of students who participated in 
service-learning programs and 66 percent of at-risk 
students who did not participate in service-learning 
programs, say that service-learning had or would 
have had a big effect on motivating them to work 
hard. 
(11) According to youth who have dropped out 
of school, providing service-learning tops the list of 
ways schools can improve. 
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(12) Service-learning gives students the oppor-
tunity to apply curricular knowledge and skills while 
serving the community. 
(13) Research shows that for every dollar spent 
on a service-learning project, $4 worth of service is 
provided to the community involved. 
(14) 65 percent of all students find service- 
learning appealing but only 30 percent of schools 
provide service-learning projects. In those schools, 
only 16 percent of students are currently aware that 
service-learning projects are available to them. 83 
percent of all students say they would enroll in serv-
ice-learning projects if their schools had them. 
(15) Research demonstrates that to provide 
enough time for students to become deeply involved 
in service and for service projects to have a mean-
ingful impact on student’s lives, projects should be 
of ample duration, typically at least a semester, and 
include sufficient service hours, typically at least 70 
hours. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to offer youth the chance to spend a semes-
ter in service to their communities for academic 
credit in their junior or senior year of high school; 
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(2) to teach civic participation skills to youth 
and help youth see themselves as resources and lead-
ers for their communities; 
(3) to encourage youth, regardless of income or 
ability, to engage in community service; 
(4) to provide tangible benefits to the commu-
nities in which Semester of Service programs are 
performed; and 
(5) to enhance the social-emotional and aca-
demic development of youth participants. 
SEC. 3. SEMESTER OF SERVICE PROGRAMS. 
Title I of the National and Community Service Act 
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12511 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subtitles F, G, H, and I as 
subtitles G, H, I, and J, respectively; 
(2) by redesignating sections 160 through 166 
as sections 159A through 159G, respectively; and 
(3) by inserting after subtitle E the following: 
‘‘Subtitle F—Semester of Service 
Programs 
‘‘SEC. 161. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this subtitle: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE
AGENCY.—The term ‘eligible 
agency’ means a local educational agency, or a non-
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profit organization working in partnership with a 
local educational agency. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-
tity’ means an individual school (including a des-
ignee of a school), or a nonprofit organization work-
ing in partnership with a school. 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE
YOUTH.—The term ‘eligible 
youth’ means a youth who will be enrolled in the 
junior or senior year of high school during the 
youth’s participation for a semester of service re-
ferred to in section 163(f). 
‘‘(4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 
‘local educational agency’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 9101 of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
‘‘(5) YOUTH
PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘youth 
participant’ means a youth who is enrolled in the 
junior or senior year of high school and is a partici-
pant in a project carried out under this subtitle. 
‘‘SEC. 162. GRANTS TO ELIGIBLE AGENCIES. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Offi-
cer shall award grants on a competitive basis to eli-
gible agencies to pay for the Federal share of the 
cost of carrying out community service programs, to 
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