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MAINE
MAINE SELECTED BY W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION TO PARTICIPATE IN $13 MILLION NATIONAL INITIATIVE AUBURN, Maine – August 26, 1999 – Maine will join California, Oregon, Minnesota and South Carolina as one of five demonstration states in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Learning In Deed: Making a Difference Through Service-Learning four-year, $13 million national initiative to connect student achievement of the state’s Learning Results with community needs. The Maine Department of Education and its project partners – KIDS Consortium, Jobs for Maine’s Graduates and the Maine Campus Compact – were selected from among 21 states to receive a $400,000 grant to connect classroom academics with the form of student community service known as service-learning. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) will work with Maine and the other four states to increase the number of schools providing quality service-learning opportunities; ensure service-learning efforts are integrated into the core academic curriculum; and develop policies and funding to support effective service-learning practice. “Service-learning has huge potential to help students learn and demonstrate the knowledge and skills required by the state’s Learning Results,” Maine Department of Education Commissioner Duke Albanese commented. “Maine’s service-learning approach, developed by the KIDS Consortium, starts when students identify a real community need they want to address. Students develop and implement an action plan, engaging adults from the community as they do.” “Service-learning shows students that they can make a difference individually and collectively, and that they need the academics they’re learning in school to do it,” the Maine Commissioner said. “By tapping into the capabilities and contributions young people have to offer, we are building leaders for today and tomorrow,” said Christine M. Kwak, Kellogg Foundation program director for Learning In Deed. “We already know that service-learning experiences help young people in a variety of ways. As citizens, it gives them an increased sense of civic responsibility and a commitment to community involvement. As students it helps improve school performance and academic engagement. And as individuals, it reduces their involvement in risky behavior, improves their self-confidence, and gives them real-world experiences and a passion to make a difference for others.” The announcement by Maine Education Commissioner Albanese and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was made at the ELF Woods Project at Edward Little High School in Auburn. ELF Woods is a seven-year-old student-led effort to improve 40 acres of deteriorating school property. As part of the English, science, mathematics and social studies curriculum, students have designed and created a walkway, lighting, landscaping, cross-country and obstacle courses, a mountain bike trail, an arboretum, an amphitheater and a greenhouse. “The KIDS service-learning model has changed the way I teach, my perception of how students learn, and it has provided a building block for systemic change,” Brian Flynn, a secondary team leader at the Auburn high school commented. “Seven years later, my team has evolved into an action research group, specializing in integrative teaching, service-learning and alternative assessment.” Twelve school districts in Maine have been selected as laboratory districts. They will develop service-learning as an important way for all students to learn and to demonstrate the state’s Learning Results. They also will provide training and support to other Maine districts and to school districts across the country. The twelve laboratory districts are:
In addition to the four partners and twelve laboratory districts, a broad-based state panel will oversee the project during the next four years. ### |