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Publications > Research Overview
Service-Learning Impact on Retention and
Persistence to College Graduation
According to the Education Trust, only 59% of first-time, full-time
freshman in California earn an undergraduate college degree within
6 years of starting a higher education program. Service-learning
and community service have been shown to increase college student's
retention and persistence to graduation. Although not yet researched,
many campuses report that student engagement in community work increases
their determination to seek employment in their home community or
campus community after graduation and/or aspire to a graduate degree.
Below are facts from various studies highlighting what is statistically
significant about the connection between community service and service-learning
and the retention and graduation of college students.
- One third of all freshmen drop out of the
college they first enter (Levitz & Noel, 1998), a statistic
that has remained fairly consistent for the past twenty years.
A campus environment that strategically focuses on freshman success,
and at the same time takes seriously the importance of civic engagement,
holds great potential for providing meaningful educational experiences
that can improve retention. Students who are active learners,
both in and out of the classroom, are more likely to persist.
Bringle, Service Learning and Retention Study, 2002
- Students who are actively involved in learning
activities and spend more time on task, especially with others,
are more likely to learn and, in turn, more likely to stay. Unfortunately,
most first-year students experience education as isolated learners.
Tinto, 1999
- Service-Learning has a positive impact on
student passing the LSATs.
Astin, 2000
- Studies from the University of Colorado
engineering program show that engineering students exposed to
service learning classes are more likely to persist to graduation
by 9.4%.
Piket-May and Avery, 2001
- ·Service-learning improves student
satisfaction with college.
Astin & Sax, 1998, Berson & Younkin, 1998, Gray, et
al., 1998
- ·Student engaged in service-learning
are significantly more likely to graduate.
Astin & Sax, 1998, Roose, Daphne, Miller, Peacock, White
& White, 1997
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