Synopses & Reviews
Researching a growing number of community colleges that use service-learning, Traver and Katz suggest that service-learning can have a profound impact on the students who experience it. Their theoretical and empirical studies of service-learning at community colleges—conducted at single and multiple institutions by service-learning practitioners, service-learning program administrators, and experts in service-learning research and evaluation—stand to benefit service-learning efforts across disciplines and institutional types.
Review
Review
"
Service-Learning at the American Community College represents a valuable addition to a growing body of noteworthy second-generation service-learning texts. Traver and Katz avoid the rhetorical and ideological posturing so common in texts that seek to advance a deeply democratic agenda, and the book's most important strength is the coherent and convincing way in which it braids a broad range of contemporary concerns into its analysis of service-learning's educational potential. Changing student demographics, student success and persistence, peer mentoring, social capital and networking, civic engagement and workforce preparation, the growing role of adjunct faculty—these and other defining features of contemporary American higher education are all considered in relation to service-learning as an institutional resource. By helping to break down the conceptual silos that impede educational reform, the book does far more than provide a timely resource for America's community colleges; it suggests a strategy for reconsidering the priorities and practices of higher education in general." - Edward Zlotkowski, Founding and former Acting Director of the Bentley Service-Learning Center, Bentley University, USA
"Finally, we now have a volume that examines the promise and challenge of incorporating and advancing service-learning in community colleges. Replete with research studies, historical analyses, conceptual frameworks, and recommendations for practice, this long-awaited book provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of service-learning's potential for securing the success of today's diverse community college students. It is a must-read for community college practitioners, educational researchers, and service-learning scholars." - Andrew Furco, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Associate Vice President for Public Engagement, University of Minnesota, USA
Synopsis
This volume brings together a breadth of new research on how service-learning - combining community-based experiential learning with classroom instruction - can best be employed at community colleges. It discusses outcomes and best practices for all involved, covers both theory and practice, and draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods.
About the Author
Amy E. Traver is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York, USA.
Zivah Perel Katz is Associate Professor of English at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York, USA.
Table of Contents
PART I: SERVICE-LEARNING AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES
1. The Roots of Service-Learning as a Basis for Advancing the Civic Mission of Community Colleges; Robert G. Bringle, Kathleen E. Edwards, and Patti H. Clayton
2. The Community's College: Contextualizing Service-Learning in the Mission and Development of Community Colleges; Vanessa Smith Morest
PART II: SERVICE-LEARNING IN DIVERSE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CONTEXTS
3. Hitting Close to Home: When Service-Learners Serve Their Own; Heather B. Wylie
4. Service-Learning and Immigrant-Origin Community College Students: How and Why Project Design Matters; Amy E. Traver, Zivah Perel Katz, and Michael Bradley
5. Connecting Past and Present: Nontraditional Learner and Practitioner Experiences Through Service-Learning; Suzanne M. Buglione and Amanda Wittman
6. Race, Ethnicity, and Service-Learning: Understanding Access and Equity Using a Critical Quantitative Approach; Drew Allen, Diana Strumbos, and Janelle Clay
PART III: SERVICE-LEARNING AND STUDENT SUCCESS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES
7. Service-Learning: A Vehicle for Enhancing Academic Performance and Retention among Community College Developmental Reading and Writing Students; Regina A. Rochford
8. Connect2Complete: Combining Service-Learning and Peer Advocates to Increase Student Success in Developmental Education; Shana Berger and Donna Duffy
9. Promoting Community College Student Transfer: The Role of Service-Learning; Jaime Lester and Carrie Klein
10. The Prism Effect of Service-Learning; Mary Prentice and Gail Robinson
11. Service-Learning's Role in Achieving Institutional Outcomes: Engagement, Learning, and Achievement; Yao Zhang Hill, Tanya Renner, Francisco Acoba, Krista Hiser, and Robert W. Franco
PART IV: SERVICE-LEARNING AS COMMUNITY AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE NEXUS
12. Community College Service-Learning Programs: The Well-Traveled Path to Civic Engagement; Mary Prentice
13. Service-Learning and the Acquisition of Social Capital in the Community College Setting; Amy Pucino and Thomas Penniston
14. Service-Learning as a Pedagogical Tool for Career Development and Vocational Training; Sharon Ellerton, Cristina Di Meo, Arlene Kemmerer, Josephine Pantaleo, Mary Bandziukas, Michael Bradley, and Victor Fichera
15. Mapping Routes to Our Roots: Student Civic Engagement in Transportation Planning; Rebecca M. Townsend
PART V: FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS IN SERVICE-LEARNING AND SERVICE-LEARNING RESEARCH AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES
16. Overcoming Obstacles for Involving Part-Time Faculty in Service-Learning; Daniel Maxey and Adrianna Kezar
17. Service-Learning Among 'Nontraditional' College Students: Contexts, Trends, and Implications; Shannon S. Fleishman, Kristina Brezicha, and Travis York
18. Best Practices in Researching Service-Learning at Community Colleges; Amanda Taggart and Gloria Crisp
PART VI: CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS ON SERVICE-LEARNING AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES
19. The Idea of Place; Scott Evenbeck, Paulette Dalpes, and Linda E. Merians
20. There is a Reason Community is in Our Name: Thoughts on How Service-Learning Expands Community in Community College; Robert Exley
21. Expanding Faculty Participation and Research in Academic Service-Learning at a Community College; Diane B. Call
22. Sustaining Momentum; Maria Hesse