Getting Familiar
The Joint Education Committee
Definition and
Goals for P-16+ Service Learning
The Task Force
Links
Illinois Campus Compact
Intergenerational Initiative
Learn and Serve
Resources
Corporation for National Service
Education Commission of the States
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Research and Articles
Coming Events
Previous
Issues
September
2000
Symposium Inaugurates P-16+ Service-Learning
Leading the Symposium were Deputy Governor for Education Hazel Loucks, State Superintendent Glenn "Max" McGee, and Joseph Cipfl, President and CEO, Illinois Community College Board, Senator Lisa Madigan, Minority Education Chair; and Keith Sanders, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education. The
agenda
had three goals, mainly to get educators on the same page and develop a plan.
Participants
represented all levels of education and key education organizations in Illinois.
Education Leaders Endorse Service Learning
Springfield- Illinois education leaders have endorsed a service learning plan that will benefit students from preschool through college while promoting good citizenship in communities throughout the state.
With the consensus that "we can't do it alone," the heads of key state education agencies have endorsed service learning from P -16+ (preschool through college and beyond) as a way of promoting a seamless system of education and achieving important educational goals, such as the Illinois Learning Standards.
Symposium participants listen to comments from Joseph Cipfl, Illinois Community College Board.
L to R: Keith Sanders, Executive Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education; President Joseph Cipfl, Illinois Community College Board; Senator Lisa Madigan, D-Chicago; Deputy Governor Hazel Loucks, and State Superintendent Glenn "Max" McGee.
P-16+ service-learning blends community service and academic learning by actively engaging students to meet real community needs as a part of their curriculum. In the process, students become more involved in their communities and their studies and develop a greater sense of responsibility and civic involvement. For example, chemistry students measure lead levels, mathematics students mentor younger students, accounting students help senior citizens with taxes, creative writing students conduct community oral histories, English students participate in literacy programs, criminal justice students research data for community policing, and management students order the supplies for building a house.
The P-16+ approach endorsed by Illinois education leaders, links preschool, elementary, high school, college, and the community to create a seamless system of education, one that facilitates dialogue between teachers at various levels of education as well as connections between students through service activities. The P-16+ approach presents lifelong service learning as a way for communities to enrich schools and the lives of all generations.
Purpose of the Symposium