Effects of Service-Learning on Retention, (The): A Report to the Northern New England Campus Compact

This study was a replication and extension of research by Gallini and Moely (2003) that focused on retention, academic challenge, community engagement, and academic engagement in students who did and did not participate in service-learning. Gallini and Moely tested 333 college students from a single university in a southern city with a questionnaire that they designed to tap different forms of engagement as well as the extent to which students felt academically challenged and likely to stay at their college or university. Students who participated in service-learning courses scored significantly higher on all measures; they reported higher community engagement, academic engagement, interpersonal engagement, academic challenge, and likelihood to remain at the university than students in courses that did not include service-learning. In addition, a mediation model showed that academic challenge and academic engagement were the elements of service-learning courses that most influenced students' decision to stay at the university.