CHAPTER 9: Journey to Service-Learning Research: Agendas, Accomplishments, and Aspirations

The bold statement above was created collaboratively over 20 years ago and has often been considered the central claim of service-learning. It demands research to examine its operation in practice and to document the extent to which such outcomes really do accrue from service-learning. This claim is from the preamble of the Wingspread Special Report, Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Leaning which became one of the foundation documents of the field (Honnett & Poulsen, 1989). Ten principles were identified that were derived from an earlier statement developed in the United States by the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education (NSIEE)¹ and were circulated in draft form among 70 organizations related to education, human services and public policy as the nascent field of service-learning was seeking definition, creating standards of practice, and forging consensus about the work.