Learning is the Thing: Insights Emerging from a National Conference on Service Learning, School Reform, and Higher Education.

The stated goals of the conference were to explore how service-learning can improve the schooling process and help build strong connections between the school and community and how universities can play a significant role in school reform. It notes that research on learning, assessment, and service-learning outcomes must receive greater support; that service-learning must be acknowledged as an authentic learning methodology; that teachers who do practice it must be willing to share their stories; and that incentives and examples must be provided to integrate service-learning. Higher education may promote service-learning by helping to prepare existing and new teachers to incorporate service-learning in their work; by modeling and helping to design service-learning opportunities for K-12 colleagues; and by adjusting college admission requirements to include more activities like service-learning. (SH)