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District Lessons: Number Two
The Philadelphia Story: A Guide to Service-Learning System Building
By Kenny Holdsman and David Tuchmann
NEW! Read the supplement by the Service-Learning Support Organizations on the current "state of service-learning" in the Philadelphia School District.
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Introduction to the Guide
In June 1998, the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia passed a resolution mandating that all students demonstrate citizenship competencies by completing a service-learning project for promotion to grades 5 and 9 and for high school graduation. This resolution, part of Children Achieving--Philadelphia's education reform plan--launched an initiative supporting service-learning practice on an unprecedented scale for one school district. Four years later, the District had formed partnerships with over 250 community agencies, trained 2,400 teachers in the philosophy and methodology of service-learning, and leveraged approximately $20 million per year in financial and in-kind resources to support this initiative.Since then, the District has received countless requests for information about this initiative. These inquiries include such questions as "What specific policies support this effort?" "What types of funding were used?" and "What key staff functions are required to manage such a large initiative?" This guide provides answers to these questions and many others.
Guide's Purpose
The purpose of this guide is to tell the story of the Philadelphia service-learning initiative from the perspective of two people deeply involved with its formation and implementation--Kenny Holdsman and David Tuchmann. Kenny served as the Philadelphia School District's director of service-learning from 1998, when the Board of Education passed the citizenship competencies mandate, until 2002. David served as assistant director of service learning during the initiative's strategic planning process in 1998 and coordinated the District's Freedom Schools high school leadership program in 1999, its first year. Information about service-learning implementation at the district level is rare. We have crafted this guide for those eager to extend the benefits of service-learning to an entire district of students. In this guide, we describe all aspects of the Philadelphia service-learning initiative and lessons learned through it. We provide "how to" advice for constructing the key components of a support system for service-learning. And we offer our opinions regarding the efficacy or shortcomings of the Philadelphia model.We hope this information will support district-led adoption and expansion of service-learning practice as well as increase dialogue about the best ways to do this.
Guide's intended users
We believe that this guide to district-wide, service-learning system-building will be most relevant to superintendents, school board members, senior-level administrators, service-learning coordinators, and district-focused activists. In addition, we think that service-learning advocates--including teachers, students, principals, community staff, and parents--will find this guide helpful for promoting service- learning with key district decision-makers. We are confident that this guide will be useful to readers in small urban districts, suburban and rural districts, or individual public and private schools, as well as to readers from districts as large as Philadelphia.
Guide's organization
This guide is divided into the sections and corresponding subsections in the table of contents below. We present the guide in this order because it roughly matches the conceptual order of planning for system-wide service-learning use. Consequently, the order of topics within each section does not necessarily follow the chronological order of implementing a whole district initiative. In the pdf version of this guide, readers may skip to topics they find most relevant.
Table of contents
Introduction to the Guide
- Guide's purpose.
- Guide's intended users
- Guide's organization
- Guide's authors
- Acknowledgements
Rationale for Requiring Service-Learning
- Education for citizenship and democracy as the rationale for service-learning
- What are citizenship competencies?
- Service-learning as a catalyst for better education
The Philadelphia Initiative
- Philadelphia's requirement
- Why is a requirement necessary?
- Who should create and issue the policy?
- Flexibility within schools to meet the requirement
- The advantages of project-based as opposed to hourly-based requirements
- How are service-learning projects organized?
- Which project topics are "out of bounds?"
- Individual students' service-learning projects
Infrastructure
- Strategic positioning of the service-learning staff
- Central office staff roles
- Maximizing central office staff time
- Regional and school staffing
- Appropriate roles for AmeriCorps members and parents
- Young people in governance and leadership roles
- Improving youth voice
Funding
- Leveraging internal operating funds
- Securing external public and private funding
- Final funding advice
Professional Development
- Goals and training profiles
- Using outside consultants
- Including community partners in training
- Results and challenges
School-Community Partnerships
- Categories and roles of main partners
- Forming partnerships
Political Support
- Superintendent leadership
- Teacher and administrator support
- Community leaders' influence
- A service-learning advisory committee
Roadblocks and Solutions
- Existing policies
- The importance of mini-grants
- Scheduling and report-card grading
- Consistent and clear answers to common questions
Concluding Comments
- Current use of service-learning in Philadelphia
- Feedback and closing words
Appendix A: Citizenship Cross-Cutting Competency
Appendix B: Essential Elements of Small Learning Communities in the School District of Philadelphia
Appendix C: Service Learning Work Plan Goals and Strategies through June, 2002- excerpt
Download this issue. [, 250KB]
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