Providing part-time AmeriCorps opportunities for college and university students
Abstract
Universities want to provide service opportunities to their students, but may not have the necessary staff to support such efforts. Developing a high level partnership with an organization such as Jumpstart enables programs to become truly effective when taking on issues such as literacy. By partnering with colleges and universities, Jumpstart gains needed tutors and colleges and universities are able to offer their students an opportunity to engage in hands-on community service and earn a partial education award from AmeriCorps. This effective practice, submitted by Kathy Engleman of Jumpstart, was developed from a session at the AmeriCorps* National Direct Best Practices Conference held February 2002 in San Diego, California.Issue
It has been demonstrated that partnerships increase the effectiveness of tutoring and other community service programs. However, forming and implementing these alliances can seem like a daunting task.Action
Jumpstart pairs college students with preschool children in Head Start and other early learning programs for one-to-one tutoring in school readiness skills. By cooperatively owning the program with universities, Jumpstart shares the responsibilities of recruiting, training and supervising AmeriCorps members and college students who serve as volunteers. Through AmeriCorps, Jumpstart can access funding for each campus program to support a full-time program coordinator and meet other expenses such as student training and leadership development.Additional effective practices include:
- Utilizing an affiliate growth plan to market to universities with large Federal Work Study awards and other resources
- Establishing an extensive new site development plan designed to create co-ownership of each affiliate site
- Organizing the program model to be adopted by universities co-partnering with Jumpstart
- Investing significant organizational resources in training, monitoring, and evaluating the network
At San Francisco State University — one of Jumpstart's partners— AmeriCorps members undertake a 20-month commitment to build the literacy and learning skills of at-risk children in the Mission and Bayview districts of San Francisco. These AmeriCorps members work one-on-one with at-risk children who have been identified by their teachers as needing individualized instruction. Co-sponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District, the program is designed to build literacy and social skills to help ensure success for children beginning elementary school. At the end of the two-year program, many of the AmeriCorps members will use their stipends to further their educational goal of becoming teachers.
Context
Jumpstart was able to successfully combine the need for quality early childhood education programs with an emerging national service movement whose aim was to recruit college students to community service. Since 1998, over 16 colleges and universities have partnered with Jumpstart. Once Jumpstart began partnering with colleges and universities, and the colleges and universities "owned" the programs, Jumpstart was able to more effectively focus on training and support.
For example, colleges like San Francisco State in San Francisco, California have tapped into Jumpstart's expertise, materials, and network to offer literacy programs to their students and community. Jumpstart San Francisco joined the Jumpstart network in 1998 and currently serves 75 children during the school year and 250 over the summer months. Additionally, through an affiliation with the Marian Wright Edelman Institute, Jumpstart San Francisco is compiling critical impact data that emphasizes the educational and developmental improvements that students make while participating in the program.
Outcome
The Jumpstart program has been able to dramatically reduce its cost per service-hour, utilize Federal Work-study dollars, enlarge its university network, and appeal to a larger community of funding sources. Consequently, during the 2000-2001 school year, Jumpstart was able to serve over 2,500 children in 19 communities with nearly 650 college students serving as AmeriCorps members. During the 2002-2003 school year, Jumpstart anticipates being in 30 communities with over 1400 college students serving as AmeriCorps members.Evidence
While Jumpstart participants began the 2000-2001 program year behind their non-participant peers in all areas, assessments indicate they made significantly more substantial gains during the year than those students who did not participate in Jumpstart over the school year. Jumpstart participants ended the year with skills that were the same or similar to those of their non-participant peers despite the fact that they were, on average, younger.
A 1998-1999 internal study comparing a group of preschool classmates, some in Jumpstart and some not, found that the Jumpstart children were behind their peers in a series of academic and social measures at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year the Jumpstart participants had caught up with or even surpassed their peers in some areas, the report said.
Jumpstart has been able to expand its program by launching affiliate sites in new communities, consequently reaching greater numbers of children and their families. More importantly, this rate of growth has not compromised the quality of the program. Jumpstart has been cited as a model program by former President and Mrs. Clinton, former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, and many others. Jumpstart has been featured by Education Week, USA Today, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and MTV. Jumpstart was also named one of America's 100 Best Charities by Worth Magazine in November 2001.