On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 into law. The Act is the most sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since ESEA was enacted in 1965. It redefines the federal role in K-12 education and is designed to help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. The Act is based on four basic principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.

The Learn to Serve with Character project was designed to meet these four basic principles, as well as address the current mandate in New York State to implement character education for all K-12 students. Service learning and character education are two national movements that seek to connect students with the world around them while promoting high academics and positive social climates. The project will be accomplished by integrating service learning and character education in a unified curriculum that will be used throughout New York State.

Character education is becoming a national movement to create schools that foster ethical, responsible and caring young people by modeling and teaching good character. Too often, these programs are often viewed as an add-on by school staff rather than an integral part of the curriculum, and become an extra lesson aimed at promoting good manners. Service emphasis revolves around using common virtues – caring, civic virtue and citizenship, justice and fairness, respect, giving and trustworthiness – to put positive character into action and encourage students to become citizens of strong character.

Service learning provides organized, curriculum-based experiences with service that meets actual community needs. Students use their academic skills to make a positive difference in their schools and communities by researching the needs they see around them, and then planning, organizing and carrying out activities that will address these needs. Cooperative team members solve real problems, keep real commitments, and with educators’ assistance, ensure projects are connected to New York State Learning Standards. Some students may work with community based organizations that serve the needs of the handicapped, elderly and poor – others may serve in projects that address the need for environmental well being, physical safety, and adequate education of all community members. Learn to Serve with Character will allow each school to meet state standards as a collective whole, but accomplish this by working individually within their own communities and with their own community’s needs.

Research has shown that service learning is an excellent motivator for positive character development and is one of the most effective methods for teaching and learning the lessons of character. The integration of service learning and character education has been found to help students develop both intellectually and as citizens; it provides young people with the opportunity to act on and affirm the values they learn in school and, as with any other academic subject, putting the ideas into practice makes them come alive. Character education provides a context in which ethical and social development is taken seriously, and in turn fosters a climate where service learning can develop. By taking this a step further and extending it into the community, the real world becomes the classroom – when young people learn not just from books but also from their own personal experiences, they learn basic academic and critical-thinking skills in ways that avoid the dreaded, "When am I ever going to use this?

Learn to Serve with Character will be a collaborative effort that creates and strengthens partnershis among schools, community-based organizations (CBO’s), and parents. Students will assess community needs and develop relevant service projects, while teachers ensure project ties to academics and New York State Standards. Through facilitated periods of reflection and discussion, students will recognize how their actions have allowed them to practice and understand the character virtues. Community partners will be among the recipients of students’ services, and encouraged to participate in the development stages as well. Parents will also collaborate in the development and implementation of projects.

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