New Report: Service-Learning Promotes Healthy Youth-Adult Transitions

Posted by on February 24, 2006

National Study Shows Service-Learning Promotes Healthy Youth-Adult Transitions

According to a new survey conducted on behalf of the National Youth Leadership Council(tm) by Harris Interactive(r), an international market research organization, service-learning has a strong impact on the youth-adult transition. The National Survey on Service-Learning and Transitioning to Adulthood examined service-learning’s potential to ease the transition to adulthood, and showed its positive benefits. The survey was funded by the State Farm Companies Foundation.

“I think people will be very surprised by the numbers,” says NYLC President and CEO Jim Kielsmeier. “I was surprised. We’ve long believed that service-learning helps prepare young people for the transition to adulthood, but the decisiveness of the results exceeded our expectations.”

The results – to be released March 22 at The 17th Annual National Service-Learning Conference in Philadelphia – show that U.S. adults who engaged in service-learning during their school years were more likely than the rest of their peers to …

* Be politically and socially connected to their communities
* Serve as role models for young adults
* Understand the importance of lifelong learning
* Attain a higher level of education
* Engage in service

This nationally representative study shows that these benefits were realized across student demographics.

The research will be published in “Growing to Greatness 2006,” NYLC’s third annual report on the state of service-learning. The project included a nationally representative survey of 3,123 U.S. residents ages 18-28. Focus groups were also conducted with high school students currently involved in service-learning, as well as with young adults who had previous service-learning experience.

Copies of “Growing to Greatness 2006” will be given to all conference attendees and available for purchase from the NYLC Bookstore (http://www.nylc.org/bookstore) after March 22. The research results, along with additional information about Growing to Greatness: The State of Service-Learning Project, will also be available at http://www.nylc.org/g2g, following the report’s release.

Advanced, embargoed copies of the results will be made available to members of the press. Please contact nylcg2g@nylc.org for details.

Growing to Greatness: The State of Service-Learning Project is a program of NYLC and funded by the State Farm Companies Foundation.