Deborah Hecht on Talking to Parents about Service-Learning

Deborah Hecht is the first to admit that whatever road she travels, she seems to run right into service-learning. And she likes it that way. Deborah, with a doctorate in education and psychology, is a nationally known service-learning researcher and evaluator who works at the Center for Advanced Study in Education at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She also works closely with Learn and Serve America in New York State. For the past 12 years she has focused on service-learning and its impact. She is also one of the founders of the Hoboken Charter School - a nationally designated Service Learning Leader School - and mother of three children - Laura, 14, Traver, 11, and Henry, 7, who have all attended the school.

Deborah recalls a profound "click" moment in 1992 that helped jump-start her interest in service-learning for her own children. She visited a middle school in Washington Heights that had service-learning. With no advance warning for the teacher or the students, the principal took her into a classroom. He said, "Okay who can tell our visitor what you have been doing." And Deborah reports, "Every hand went up. They were very articulate and excited about the service-learning projects they were working on." She says, "I could see that something really good was going on. I've seen that 100 times since then, but it was absolutely powerful. It still is every time I see it."

Creating a charter school in Hoboken, NJ
Deborah has lived in Hoboken, New Jersey since 1976, a "very diverse urban area that's a square mile." Her daughter, Laura, was in pre-kindergarten when Deborah attended a charter school forum in Hoboken. (A charter school is a publicly funded school that does not report to the board of education but has a board of trustees.) There she met a neighbor's daughter: "We talked about charter schools and our visions. My vision was all around service-learning." They attended workshops and decided to write a charter school application.

The application was written with several partners. Deborah, who wrote the service-learning portion, points out that charter school work requires a huge sacrifice of time and effort. The application was submitted, but the organizers decided that, "planning time was absolutely critical, and we couldn't open a high-quality school in that short a time period." As a result, the school officially opened for students in kindergarten to grade 3 and in grades 9 and 10 in September 1999. The charter school planners included the older grades "because there was a need for a high school here. And we wanted a service-learning school that 'mixed' students of different ages." Deborah's daughter, Laura, was enrolled in grade 3. And last year all three of her children attended the school.

Deborah looks at the school through the eyes of an educator, researcher, parent and, for many years, as a board member. Recently she took off her board member "hat" to just settle in as a parent and informal advisor. She notes, "I let the school be where my kids can blossom."

Over the years, Deborah has been involved with many of the school's service-learning projects. Service learning is central to the mission of the Hoboken Charter School and reflects the belief that learning is enhanced when students make links between their classroom and the real world. Classroom-based service-learning projects have included cross-age projects such as Reading Buddies and Science Buddies, K/1 Penny Harvest, Hudson River project, and an oral history project. These projects have resulted in a wealth of community partnerships over the years.

Deborah's favorite ongoing service-learning project is "empty bowls." Every spring, students host an Empty Bowls Luncheon to benefit the Hoboken homeless shelter. Community members are invited to attend a student-made lunch and fundraiser. Fourth-grade students are in charge of event logistics (ticket-making and -selling, public relations, publicity.) Each attendee at the luncheon is invited to take home a student-made bowl as a reminder that "someone's bowl is always empty." All students study issues related to hunger and homelessness. It's an academically based project connected to art, literature (students wrote poems and stories), economics, science, math, and nutrition. And Deborah points out, "The school is able to change the project enough to keep it vital year to year."

Talking to parents about service-learning
Deborah has been asked, and has answered, many questions about service-learning from other parents. She doesn't have a perfect "spin" for the questions, but she likes to note: "We make a mistake talking about service-learning like one size fits all."

Here are her responses to common questions.

1. What is service-learning, anyway?
   "I get asked this a lot. I like to say that service-learning is hands-on learning; it's learning that's doing and it's helping the community. I always talk about service-learning as linked back and relating to what students are learning in the classroom. The biggest misconception about service-learning is that "It's just an extra, an add-on. I even get asked, why aren't the students paid? And I answer, "Because service-learning is part of school."

   "I also explain to parents that what service-learning looks like in kindergarten is different from what it looks like in grade 4 and later in grade 8. The nature of service-learning changes as students get older."

2. Do parents understand that service-learning is different from community service?
   "Sometimes. But often parents are confused and need help to make the academic connection. Others have always thought about community service and youth as an alternative to punishment or even jail. They need to understand that service-learning is a rewarding educational experience."

3. How do we know our children will be safe?
   "When we were planning the charter school, we gave examples of service projects we could do. We are right on the Hudson River, so we often talked about how the students could do water testing. Sometimes a parent would ask, 'How do we know they are not going to fall into the Hudson and drown?' My typical response always was: 'It's common sense. Would you let your kid go on a class trip to the zoo or on a trip to a museum? How do you know your kid won't get lost? The school does what it would do whenever students go on trips.'"

   "Parents need an opportunity to see service-learning in a very safe environment first. At the Hoboken Charter School, we let them see how it worked in the school to get used to the idea that service-learning is safe."

4. Is my child going to learn what he/she need to learn?
   "Parents are concerned that service-learning takes their children away from what they should be learning. In a good program, service-learning is just part of the classroom, it's seamless. As an example, the kindergarten class was talking about recycling. The students noticed there were no recycling bins in the school, so they put up bins. It was just part of what happened when the children thought about what it means to recycle."

   "A recent article about service-learning at the school reported that students learned how to prepare for disasters by assembling emergency kits as part of a hometown safety program known as Youth Organized for Disaster Action (YODA). The fifth and sixth graders distributed 100 emergency preparedness kits to the local shelter and food pantry. My son Traver was in that class and noted 'this project let us combine learning about disasters and the Red Cross by creating our own emergency kits.' What speaks to the power of service-learning for me is that Traver sees this project as part of what they do in class all the time."

   Article: "Emergency kits for the needy: Charter School kids learn how to prepare for disasters - and then donate materials," Hoboken Reporter, June 26, 2005

5. How is service-learning going to help my child increase his academics? Will he/she score well on tests?
   "I hear that a lot. If a parent's concern is totally on the math score on the eighth-grade test, then 'drill and skill' is probably the most efficient way to increase that score. (You give the student multiple problems over and over). But if what you really want is a student who understands concepts and 'gets' what they are doing, then service is a wonderful way. But you must also pay attention to test-taking skills or you can have a problem. When the charter school first opened, we focused on hands-on learning and paid little attention to test-taking skills. The students understood concepts, but they had a problem the first time they encountered a standardized test setting; they were confused about why they could not work together and help one another."

   "The answers are also different depending on the ages of the children. When you are talking about young children and the value of service-learning, you are talking about the importance of socialization, working together, establishing a sense of cooperation and community. How you 'sell' service-learning differs in the older grades. In fifth or sixth grade, the students often engage in social action. This works for middle school kids; service-learning provides them a great way they can actually do something. And I always say, colleges are looking for kids who are multifaceted, so the service becomes one piece of their portfolio in applying for college."

• To learn about the school see www.hobokencs.org.
• Email Deborah Hecht.