Year 2 Site Visit Evaluation: Riverdale High School

Site visits in this second year of the Coalition of Essential Schools Northwest grant focused on four Essential Elements of service-learning: outcomes, assessment, meeting a genuine need, and reflection. During site visits, Merit Research met with at least two teachers, one community partner, two groups of students, and the service-learning coordinator in order to assess progress in the essential elements. Merit met with coordinators at the conclusion of the site visit to discuss what Merit had learned and to collaboratively assign a rating from 1 to 4 on a half-point scale for each element. A rating of 1 indicated minimal incorporation of element expectations, such as "The identified need may be of minor consequence or, even if significant, not understood to be so by all participants" for the element "project addresses a genuine need." A rating of 4 signified ideal service-learning practices, such as "The identified need is of deep and urgent importance to the community." This report reviews progress made in Riverdale's service-learning program since 2007, describe the rating assigned for each of the targeted essential elements, and summarize results from online student, teacher, and partner surveys.