Call for Chapter Proposals: K-12 Service-Learning Partnerships

Posted by on April 28, 2006

Call for Chapter Proposals – Deadline for Submission is June 15, 2006

Realities, Reflections, and Refinement in K-12 Service-Learning Partnerships

Anker Publishing, a publisher of professional development resources for higher education, is undertaking a book series that provides interdisciplinary concepts and models for service-learning courses that address specific social issues and public concerns. This new series on Service-Learning and Contemporary Social Issues represents an important resource for the next generation of service-learning faculty who have advanced their disciplinary work in a way that has specific social application in the local community.

The series will consist of multiple volumes that provide concepts and models of the distinctive ways in which service-learning courses address contemporary social issues such as K-12 education, working with state and local government, watershed management, small business development and neighborhood revitalization, hunger and the politics of food, arts in the community, teaching tolerance, emergency preparedness, overcoming health disparities, and bridging the digital divide. Each volume will have a volume editor and chapters contributed by faculty and or community partners with expertise in applying service-learning pedagogy to the specific issue areas. Dr. Edward Zlotkowski, Bentley College, and John Saltmarsh, University of Massachusetts, Boston, will serve as series editors.

The series editors have invited the Center for Community Based Learning at Montclair State University to serve as editors for the national, peer-reviewed volume focused on service-learning partnerships with K-12 schools. For a definition the editors have chosen:

“Service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.”
-Robert Bringle and Julie Hatcher, “A Service Learning Curriculum for Faculty.”
The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. Fall 1995. 112-122

The editors are seeking chapter submissions that focus on innovative service-learning projects and collaborations between higher education institutions and K-12 schools. Through this book, we hope to provide alternative ways of viewing the field by offering advances that reclaim old territory and carve out new ground.

We wish to construct a volume highlighting a variety of approaches from a diverse group of institutions ranging from community colleges to private and public 4-year institutions that exemplify the continuous cycle of program and/or course reflection and refinement necessary for the future advancement of service-learning. We seek submissions that highlight K-12 partnerships around all areas including, but not limited to: arts programming; math, science, and literacy tutoring; mentoring; civic learning; digital divide; college preparation; integration of service-learning and national service programs (i.e., AmeriCorps); curricular development; and the integration of community into schools.

Each chapter proposal must fit into one of the following categories:

I. *Theoretical/Contextual/Historical Essays* – a formal piece of scholarly prose that includes the purpose/organizing construct, conclusions, and implications of the proposed chapter.

II. *Scholarship of Teaching and Learning* *Essays *- descriptions and analysis of pedagogical practice involving service-learning methodology and student learning outcomes.

III. *Research-Based* *Essays* – an examination of the effects of service-learning courses and programs on the community, elementary, secondary, and/or higher education levels and/or community-based research initiatives that describe the experimental method, findings, and conclusion of the proposed chapter.

Priority will be given to chapter proposals which demonstrate program/collaboration effectiveness and sustainability, as well as those co-authored, featuring voices from both sides of the partnership. Proposals will be selected by a peer-review process.

*The deadline for chapter proposal submissions is **June 15, 2006*
Interested contributors should specify the category for which they wish to be considered, include a chapter synopsis following the criteria above, and identify the innovation offered to the service-learning field. If you intend to write a research-based or pedagogical chapter, please include descriptions of context, assessment practices, and nature of partnership. Proposals should be two pages, double-spaced and include a cover page with the author(s)’ address, phone number, email address, fax number, and title. Additionally, please indicate whether this article has been previously published.

The editorial board will provide the authors of the selected chapter proposals with manuscript guidelines by July 15, 2006. Additionally, volume contributors will be invited to participate in a *national symposium* on their work at the Center for Community-Based Learning at Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ following the publication of the volume.

Please send proposals via email to Jessica St. Clair at stclairj@mail.montclair.edu.

*Timeline

Chapter Proposals Due
6/15/06

Selection and Notification of Contributors
7/15/06

Chapters Due to Volume Editors
9/29/06

Respond to Contributors with Editing Comments
10/31/06

Revised Chapters Due to Volume Editor
12/22/06

Completed Manuscript to Series Editors
2/1/07

Completed Manuscript to Publisher
3/31/07