For Immediate Release
September 27, 2006
State Board of Education and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn award
Learn and Serve America grants
More than 45,000 Illinois
students will benefit and participate in service-learning
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois State Board of
Education, in partnership with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s
office, recently awarded Learn and Serve America grants
totaling more than $550,000 to 44 school districts and
regional programs in an effort to promote students’ involvement
in both the classroom and their community.
“Learn and Serve America extends classroom learning
out into communities where students see first-hand the
positive difference they can make,” said Randy
Dunn, State Superintendent Education. “The hands-on
projects that make up the program help the students and
the whole community.”
Service learning is a teaching method in which students
apply what they are learning in their classrooms as they
work to meet important needs in their communities. High-quality
service-learning is an effective means of fostering civic
responsibility in students while promoting academic learning
and social/emotional development. The overall purpose
of the Illinois K-12 Learn and Serve America program
is to encourage and support the use of service learning
as a teaching methodology in the elementary and secondary
schools of Illinois.
The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993
established the Learn and Serve America Program, which
is administered by the Corporation for National and Community
Service. Since the program’s first year in 1994-1995,
ISBE has been awarded an annual LSA grant.
In the grant’s first year, 70 sub-grants were
issued to individual schools, local school districts
or groups of cooperating school districts in Illinois.
An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Illinois elementary and secondary
students participated in these service-learning activities.
More than 45,000 students in these 44 local school districts
and regional programs will participate in the Illinois
School-Based Learn and Serve America Program during the
2006-2007 school year.
“Service learning is a tool which allows students
to become actively engaged in their studies as well as
leaders in their communities,” Lt. Governor Pat
Quinn said. “By linking public service to the academic
curriculum, students grow into real world problem solvers,
and I look forward to working with each of these school
districts to expand service learning in Illinois.”
Recently, the Lt. Governor's Office was appointed as
the new coordinator of the Illinois Learn and Serve
America Program through an intergovernmental agreement with ISBE.
The Lt. Governor has administered the innovative Cesar
Chavez Serve and Learn Program for the past three years
and has been a long time advocate for community service.
There were 57 proposals submitted for the multi-year
grant. Continuation in years two and three will be contingent
upon sufficient funding for the initiative and satisfactory
performance of grantees.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS AWARDED GRANTS
Grants for Program Implementation, Operation or Expansion
- City of Chicago School District 299
- New Trier High
School District 203
- Waukegan Township School District
60
- School District U-46 (Elgin)
- Berwyn South School
District 100
- Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of
Education 32
- Lewistown School District 97
- Sterling Community Unit
School District 5
- North Shore School District 112
(Highland Park)
- Northern Suburban Special Education
District
- Iroquois West Community Unit School District
10
- Community Unit School District 300 (Carpentersville)
- North Cook Intermediate Service Center
- Sangamon County
Regional Office of Education 51
- Park Forest/Chicago
Heights School District 163
- Thornton Township High
School District 205
- Cornell Community Consolidated
School District 426
- Cambridge Community Unit School
District 227
- Township High School District 113 (Highland
Park)
- Special Education District of Lake County
- Matteson
Elementary School District 162
- Peoria County Regional
Office of Education 48
- West Northfield School District
31
- Bushnell-Prairie City Community Unit School District
170
- West
40
Intermediate Service
Center
2
- Plainfield
School
District
202
- Wauconda Community
Unit School
District 118
- Rural
Champaign County
Special Education
District
- Calhoun
Community Unit
School District
40
- South
Cook Intermediate
Service Center
4
- DeKalb
County Regional
Office of
Education 16
- Wabash
Community Unit
School District
348
- Newark
Community High
School District
18
- Alden-Hebron
School District
19
- Mannheim
School District
83
- Monroe/Randolph
Regional
Office
of Education
45
- Carmi-White
County
Community
Unit
School
District
5
- Charleston
Community
Unit
School
District
1
Grants for Program Planning
- Pontiac Community Consolidated School District 429
- Evanston Township High School District 202
- Mount
Vernon City School District 80
- Lake Forest Community
High School District 115
- Bond, Effingham, Fayette
Regional Office of Education 3
- Mount Vernon Township
High School District 201
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