AACTE Best Practice Award for Service-Learning

Posted by on August 16, 2002

AACTE Best Practice Award for Service-Learning in Teacher Education

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Entry Deadline: September 12, 2002

About the Best Practice Award for Service-Learning in Teacher Education

This award is intended to recognize exemplary practice in the use of service-learning in teacher education. Growing out of the work of AACTE and the National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (NSLTEP), the award recognizes excellence and identifies useful models of service-learning in teacher education. Review and evaluation of award submissions will be performed by a panel of experts.

Examples of exemplary practices could include, but are not limited to, the application of service-learning as a method in preparing teachers in the professional sequence and/or the academic field of study; the use of service-learning experiences of preservice teachers in clinical and/or community settings; the production of data that demonstrate the impact of service-learning on student outcomes; and/or the relationship of service-learning to content standards and teacher standards.

Selection Criteria
The following guidelines are suggested for preparing the narrative:

Describe the institution’s position on service-learning as evidenced in written policy and/or mission statements. Describe how new knowledge about service-learning is developed or identified and applied. Point out how service-learning is taught as a pedagogy to preservice teachers. Explain or give an example of how preservice teacher education students use service-learning as a method in field experiences. Indicate how faculty measure or plan to measure the impact of service-learning on student knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. Describe methods for tracking graduates’ application of service-learning in the beginning years of teaching.

Submission Requirements
The entry form must accompany the submission. In addition, the application materials for this award must include A 300-word abstract of the program’s purpose, audience, and format 10 copies of all submission materials
A typed, double-spaced narrative, not to exceed 10 pages
A letter from the dean or chair of the department to the AACTE/NSLTEP panel demonstrating institutional commitment to service-learning

For more information about this award, contact
Whitney Pickens: 202/293-2450, ext. 582
E-mail: wpickens@aacte.org

*** Please see the AACTE website for ENTRY FORMS:
http://www.aacte.org/Awards/call_entries.htm
Deadline: September 12, 2002