There is a continuing emphasis in educational programming for evaluation and assessment.  Programs need to be assessed to secure continued funding and to improve and enhance their impact on students.  Educators that use service-learning and character education have the increased burden of utilizing a teaching method and philosophy of which many teachers and administrators are not aware, and are thus “suspicious” of its actual impact.  Because of this hesitance, service-learning and character education programs must take the time to evaluate and assess their work to temper such uncertainty.  With positive evaluations, more teachers and administrators will be likely to adopt the service-learning methodology.    
 
Teachers are strongly encouraged to engage students in the evaluation process.  Students can learn much by being challenged with collecting and processing data, especially when they are committed and passionate about their work and want to make their programs better.  They are also not afraid to take some risks and ask hard questions!  A great tool for teachers and students, entitled Educators’ Guide to Evaluation of Service-Learning, helps start this evaluation process.  It can be downloaded at, http://www.servicelearning.org/resources_tools/tool_kits/pdfs/EvaluationToolkit.pdf.  For character education evaluation, teachers and students can access a wide variety of tools and information at http://www.character.org/resources/assessment/.
 
On January 30, 2003 from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, the PSLA will be hosting an evaluation workshop for students entitled, Youth Evaluation – Finding Answers to YOUR Questions.  It will primarily focus on students from Student Run Service Centers across Pennsylvania, but any other interested students and teachers are welcome to attend.  If interested, the PSLA can conduct a similar workshop for students in your school.  Contact Cynthia Belliveau at (215) 573-6535 or bellivea@pobox.upenn.edu for more information.