Gaining Perspective

In this chapter, the authors discuss the outcomes of a program evaluation of a university-middle school service-learning partnership. The initial goal was to evaluate the extent to which three middle school teachers, our community partners, were satisfied with the volunteer experience their seventh grade students had with first-year university students. The evaluation came after a three-year partnership between undergraduates enrolled in a liberal studies course focused on citizenship and education and a team of middle school students and their teachers. Interviews revealed that this partnership enabled teachers to view their students through a different lens than they had prior to the partnership. Further, teachers suggested that the service-learning activities facilitated a deeper understanding of students' funds-of-knowledge and talents. This research supports the possibility that there are valuable unintended outcomes of service-learning partnerships between universities and public schools.