An Interview with Dr. Cynthia Belliveau: Service-Learning History and Culture in Philadelphia

Posted by on June 30, 2011

Dr. Cynthia Belliveau is a professor in the Dept. of Psychological Studies in Education at Temple University. She has her Ph.D. in Psycho-Educational Processes from Temple University, an M.P.S. in Non-Profit Management from Alfred University and a B.S. in Individual and Family Studies from Penn State University.

Currently, Dr. Belliveau teaches and supervises courses in Conflict Resolution Education, Organizational Development, Interpersonal Communication and Group Dynamics. She works specifically to help students build positive behavior models in classrooms, and to create meaningful side-by-side learning through service between college students and K-12 students. Until 2005 she was the Director of the PSLA: Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance and she is a dedicated scholar and practitioner of service-learning.

Q: What positive changes have you seen in the service-learning field for the college students and the public school students you’ve worked with?

A: Overall I’ve seen an increase in how many students have experienced community work by the time they enter college. There are definitely more civically engaged young people out there and they are truly committed to making a difference. What is exciting and an opportunity that we must build on, is that students want to continue their service work in college. The reality also has hit students that in this economy the more practical experience you have, the more your chances of employment. I believe that it doesn’t matter how students get involved in service, the important thing is that for many students, once they experience working in the community they will continue that work through their life time – we have planted a seed.

And our challenge is to help that seed grow. Now we have a baseline of taking kids out in to the community, and that baseline gives the higher-ed folks a perfect opportunity to say “these are our constituents and they want to be involved in the community and to be actively involved in service and it is our responsibility to provide a variety of experiences for students in this type of work”. I know that incoming students often ask a question about service opportunities when they enter a higher education institution and for some students the answer to that question will decide which college or university they choose. To me, that is a very important driving factor for administrators to support service-learning.

Q: What would you recommend for Philadelphia schools regarding implementing service-learning or civic engagement?

A: The tone is set from the top. The emphasis on high stakes testing is certainly a challenge to anyone trying to involve their students in the community. Today, teachers are under more and more pressure to confirm to a standardized curriculum which leaves little time or support for designing and implementing service learning. I truly believe that K-12 teachers want to do service-learning, because they see that it excites students and encourages students to learn and to be truly engaged in the learning process. The challenge is to convince the administration that there are a myriad of opportunities to create a space for service-learning in any curriculum, in a way that supports learning and supports high academic achievement . And this will translate in to higher test scores. Helping teachers to design impactful service-learning opportunities is one of the ways that Colleges of Education can help Philadelphia School District teachers.

Q: How can we make service learning relevant for pre-service teachers, and why is it such and essential methodology in urban education?

A: I think that service learning should be a vital part of the pre-service experience. If more pre-service teachers were introduced to service learning as a teaching methodology, it would propel the service-learning field substantially. Teachers entering the field would consider service learning as a part of any good, academic classroom, not a program that is an “add-on”, to be done after “real work” is completed. A few years ago, the Temple University College of Education had a three-credit service-learning course as a required course for very Education major. It was wonderful, because every student graduating from the program understood the power of service learning. They knew how to design and implement academically rich service learning projects.

I was honored to be one of the faculty members teaching this required service learning course. In the course we studied the Essential Elements of service learning and the students then designed and implemented “high quality” service projects. My students would meet with a school Principal at the beginning of the semester to conduct a needs assessment. From the needs assessment my students would design a service project.. This could be anything from designing a recess program to painting a music room. My students really learned to love service learning as a teaching methodology. I like to think many of my former students are implementing some form of service in their classrooms, even today.

These service-learning courses were a positive, win-win experience for everyone involved; the K-12 students, the Philadelphia school and the Temple students. I would encourage my students to work as much with students from a Philadelphia school as they were working for them. Because of this, my pre-service teachers built really great relationships with the K-12students. And this really supported the pre-service teachers in continuing to want to work in an urban education setting. Service-learning shows teachers how to get to know students for who they really are, because you are planning something together and you have a common goal. I truly believe that service learning is a tool for recruiting education majors to work in an urban setting.

I think that one of the ways that the K-16 School Partnership can really help the service learning field and the Philadelphia School District, is to support a dialogue with the Pennsylvania Department of Education about service learning and the research that backs up the its effectiveness. If there could be language in the PDE requirements for Colleges of Education that required that pre-service teachers be familiar with service-learning as a teaching methodology, then we would have a large cadre of new teachers coming in to the district knowing how and why they should get their students out in to the community. That would be very exciting!

Q: Should pre-service teachers interested in urban education only do their field placements in urban schools?

A: All teachers should have to see and hopefully work in all different kinds of schools. They should experience everything [suburban, urban, rural]. Teachers, administrators and students involved in service learning must approach change from a regional perspective. If teachers have had the chance to work in a variety of schools they will recognize that no school has the luxury of remaining uninvolved in major social issues.

Currently the “grid” of who is invested in Philadelphia is becoming much broader. That was extremely obvious at the recent K-16 Partnerships Institute sponsored by PHENND. For two days individuals from colleges and universities all over the region were really thinking about how their Higher Ed Institution could support the Philadelphia school district. I think there’s a stronger commitment because everyone realizes that there is no such thing as “just a Philadelphia problem.”

Q: What skills does service-learning teach to K-12 students? Why are these skills so important?

A: Service-learning values the concept of building a student’s “EQ” [Emotional Quotient] not just a student’s “IQ” [Intelligence Quotient]. The reality is that a person’s IQ doesn’t really change much, over time. That reality can be depressing, especially to teachers who may become overwhelmed with the academic challenges their students face. But, a person’s EQ can change and that is exciting for teachers. If a teacher can help to build a student’s EQ, and help them to understand their emotions and others emotions, they will be much more successful in school and in the world.

That’s the exciting thing about service-learning. I think it is one of the most effective strategies for building a student’s EQ. Through service students learn to be sensitive to other people’s emotions, they build empathy; they understand the importance of setting goals, all of which are components of emotional competence.

For example at the Simon Gratz Youth Driven Service-Learning Center, run by Janice Steinberg, I saw students grow and change through service. I saw very clearly the changes that occurred in students as they became active in their communities. I observed students learning to respect themselves and to respect other people, and how their emotional growth made all the difference. Students’ in Ms. Steinberg’s class certainly learned the subject matter, but more importantly through their work in the community, they increased their EQ. It is my strong belief that the increase in EQ is what changed many of the students’ lives as much, if not more, than their increased English skills.

We have many challenges in this service-learning work, but if we focus on the exciting potential and impact of increasing a child’s Emotional Quotient, we can stay motivated. This work can be frustrating, for sure, but I see the potential as exciting and very effective. We just have to convince more administrators and individuals in power to focus on long term student growth versus short term test scores.