Book Review: Service-learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and empirical perspectives by Traver, A. E., & Katz, Z. P. (Eds.)

Abstract

Traver, A. E., & Katz, Z. P. (Eds.). (2014). Service-learning at the American Community College: Theoretical and empirical perspectives. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. 352 pp. US$130 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-137-36170-7 (eBook, ePub). ISBN 978-1-137-35574-4 (eBook, PDF). ISBN 978-1-137-35573-7.The practice of service learning in community colleges has been promoted nationwide since the 1990s (Robinson, 2000). In general, service learning emphasizes student learning, community service, and civic/democratic engagement. The book ServiceLearning at the American Community College provides a focused review of servicelearning implementation, evaluation, and research across community colleges in the United States.The editors, Traver and Katz, organized 22 chapters into six parts with each part highlighting a particular aspect of service learning in community colleges. Part One sets up the theoretical and contextual foundation for the book with a systematic review of the history and theory of service learning and a contextualization of service learning in the community college setting. Part Two emphasizes service-learning practice in terms of engaging diverse learners. The chapters particularly highlight service-learning programs that serve underrepresented minority students, immigrant students, and nontraditional students. Part Three consists of five chapters that focus on the relationship between student outcomes and service-learning participation: academic performance, student engagement, retention and persistence, and student transfer. The chapters in Part Three are more researcher/evaluator orientated, and each reports evidence-based findings of how service learning affects students learning outcomes. One chapter in particular summarizes longitudinal evaluation results of American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)-funded service-learning practice across the country. Another chapter offers an in-depth literature review and concludes with a service-learning model to facilitate transfer students' success. Part Four introduces broad impacts that service learning might bring to the campus and the community, including the civic engagement focus of service learning through a national perspective, the social capital acquisition function of service learning for community college students, the pedagogical use of service learning for career and technical education (CTE), and a successful example of how a service-learning program involved students in community governance. Part Five provides recommendations for future research and practice on service learning in community colleges. Authors emphasize the involvement of part-time faculty and nontraditional students and present research design and methodology issues related to service-learning inquiry and evaluation. Part Six concludes this book by providing four community college presidents' reflections on service-learning practice.The editors of this book are two community college faculty members who have been dedicated to developing and sustaining service-learning courses. The contributing authors represent a diverse group of community college faculty members, administrators, institutional researchers, and presidents who have experienced directly the development, implementation, administration, and evaluation of service learning. There are also university professors, evaluators, and scholars in-training with expertise in researching and evaluating service-learning practice.Due to its comprehensiveness, this book can serve as a great resource for servicelearning practitioners, evaluators, and researchers; however, this book might have different benefits to different audiences. …