There are two types of programs that link school improvement and the community that have proven to be very successful in rural areas across the nation: service learning and entrepreneurship education. Schools involved in SEDL’s RD CAT process will incorporate these two types of projects to bring school improvement and economic development together.

Service learning and entrepreneurial activities are integrated into academic curriculum and allow structured time for students to talk, write, or think about their experiences in the activity. The activities provide students with opportunities to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations and enhance what is taught in school by extending learning beyond the classroom and into the community. Students gain experiences in many career areas, as well as practice and skill reinforcement in problem solving, critical thinking, self-improvement,
collaboration, and conflict resolution. Many researchers believe that the alienation of youth is a major problem in our society, and suggest that discipline problems decrease when children begin to feel important to others. Both service learning and entrepreneurship can increase students’ feelings of self-worth and accomplishment.

Above is a photo of the pool at Balmorhea State Park, one of the area's tourist attractions.   The Rural Development Collaborative Action Team (RD CAT) at Balmorhea, TX is a great example of what can happen in a community when the school and community join forces. Currently the RD CAT has plans for or has started 16 programs, including a very successful school-based rural health clinic. Miles from the nearest doctor, the community joined forces with Texas Tech University Medical School and Dr. Lawrence Voesack. The clinic is run by the school nurse. Students man the phones and schedule appointments. Dr. Voesack comes once a week. So far the clinic has been seeing 15-25 patients a day. Another example of Balmorhea’s effort to integrate the school and the community for mutual benefit is the community weather station recently set-up at the school which can be used for science classes. When the school library was remodeled, it was constructed to double as a tornado shelter. The RD CAT is planning and implementing a summer recreation program, a mentoring program which will connect older and younger students and community members with students, a drug education program, and a parent involvement center. The parent involvement center will provide a place on campus for parents to come to network. Educational programs are planned for parents including a technology program. The RD CAT is enthusiastic about increasing tourism in the area as well. Balmorhea State Park, situated on San Solomon Springs, has long been an area attraction. The park touts one of the largest man-made swimming pools in the U.S. The spring-fed pool covers 62,000 square feet. The group is now sharing ideas for tourism projects and examining ways these could be integrated into the school’s curriculum.

Service Learning. Service learning is an activity where students learn and develop through organized service experiences that meet actual community needs. Service learning is based on the philosophy that the most effective learning is active and connected to experience. It uses the community as part of the curriculum and helps students to learn to value their community.

Examples of service learning include the community health clinic in Balmorhea, TX, through one of SEDL’s RD CATs. Students help run the community health clinic which is now located at the school. Students greet patients and schedule appointments; some have learned to take the patients’ temperatures. The clinic, which serves an average of 15-20 patients a day, is a part of the school’s vocational health curriculum. At another RD CAT site in Mora, NM, students are helping refurbish a 150-year-old adobe building, an activity that can be integrated into history, math, and vocational curriculum.

Some proponents see service learning as a way to help students develop an ethic of service and social responsibility; others view service learning as encouraging the learner to think about systematic solutions for societal problems. Both of these views have merit, and the two do not necessarily produce mutually exclusive outcomes. For example, a service learning project to help the homeless might begin with a study of the local housing situation. Services to the homeless may be provided as a charitable activity, but there is a different kind of reflection and research necessary to understand why homelessness exists, and, perhaps, to develop solutions. Other themes for service learning might include issues of health and the environment. In one project, children tested water for phosphate levels and investigated acid rain and ozone depletion. The children used math skills to graph data and writing skills to compose letters to legislators. They put the principles of democracy into action when they drafted an “Environmental Bill of Rights” and sent it to their state legislators. Experiences help children learn that changes can begin at the local level, but grow to affect the legislative process.

As a service learning project, students are remodeling this 150-year-old building in Mora, NM.

Entrepreneurship Education. In most existing school entrepreneurship programs, students own or operate businesses under the guidance of the school and perhaps community partners. Many school entrepreneurial enterprises are highly successful—as businesses and as laboratories for learning. Schools and students operate restaurants, child care centers, summer camps, rental libraries, word processing businesses, hardware stores, and grocery stores. They provide odd-job services, tennis coaching, and computer training. They publish magazines and newspapers. They build houses and community centers. They conduct agricultural experiments, energy and safety audits, and market research. A study of entrepreneurial programs suggest that such programs increase self-reliance and self-awareness, and help students recognize opportunities and take initiative. They also help teach students the skills necessary in business planning and operation. Ideally, school entrepreneurial projects meet needs that are not being met by privately owned businesses and thus benefit the community as well as the students.

	A mural in the Mora school reflects the heritage, culture, and natural resources of this peaceful agricultural community in Northern Mexico.

Both service learning and entrepreneurial activities can improve community involvement with schools and thus increase networking and cohesiveness. The community benefits through such programs as the one at Balmorhea where the school links social services and families and the community by allowing greater access to health care. Other projects may involve increasing the economic base of a community through tourism development or new industry. The community also receives the long-term benefit of the students being educated to be good citizens with stronger community ties.

The advantages for students through service learning and entrepreneurial activities are many. They have the opportunity to learn skills that are valued in the workplace, such as organization, communication, and decision-making. These activities also allow students to develop meaningful relationships with adults in the community and to realize they are valued in the community. These activities also provide learning experiences that may not be provided in a regular curriculum and tend to be more hands-on, student-centered, multidisciplinary activities.

We believe that the local capacity building of the CAT process coupled with service learning or school entrepreneurship can help improve instruction in schools while improving the quality of life in small rural communities, thus helping sustain both rural schools and communities. We hope this issue paper has sparked your interest in the RD CAT project. In future briefing papers, we will focus in depth on school entrepreneurship and service learning, and look at what policy changes and commitments are required for rural schools and communities to integrate development for improved results. In other papers we will describe the collaboration process that encourages school improvement and community development and provide highlights of SEDL’s RD CAT sites and other exemplary rural community programs across the nation.

	SEDL‘s Collaborative Action Team process brings together community members, parents, students, teachers and school administrators to develop plans for school improvement. In Fabens, TX, SEDL program specialist José Velasquez (center) works with Mary Eble, a social worker with the Kellogg Community Partnerships, parent Maricela Barrientos, and principal Enrique Pérez.   Across the country there are several large-scale programs that work with schools and communities to improve their capacity to link school and community development in unique ways. In Alabama, through assistance from the PA-CERS program, 19 schools have set up school-owned, student run companies that publish community newspapers. The combined distribution for these newspapers is 25,000, surpassed only by the state’s top for-profit newspaper. In Idaho, an isolated rural school received a grant from the Foxfire Fund for a music and arts program. The school holds monthly art shows for their community where students perform, read poetry and display artwork. 1) In Minnesota, 60 small rural districts received grants and consultation from the University of Minnesota Center for School Change. The communities and schools implemented programs that involved students in converting empty buildings into community centers; operating businesses such as grocery stores, hardware stores, and ice cream parlors; and conducting thousands of dollars of research on water quality. 2) In Nebraska, schools have used grants from the School as the Center Project to clean up a lake and develop a recreation area, to conduct in-depth studies of a major nature preserve, to build affordable housing and operate a community’s history center. 3) In North Carolina, through the help of REAL Enterprises, during the past six years schools provided entrepreneurial training for young people and adults that resulted in 342 business startups and expansions and $5.2 million in new revenue. We will discuss these successful community/school development programs in future issues of Benefits2, and discuss how schools and communities in the SEDL region can draw upon their experiences. These programs have withstood the test of time; all have been in operation from eight to twenty years.

Credits: The school bus photo ©PhotoDisc 1999. The photo in story 2 was taken by .J Griffis Smith/TxDOT. The picture in story three was taken by freelance photographer Pamela Porter. All other photos were taken by SEDL staff members. This issue of Benefits2 was designed by Jane Thurmond, Austin, TX.

© Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. This publication was produced in whole or in part with funds from the office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract #RJ9600681. The content herein does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, any other agency of the U.S. Government or any other source.

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