Student Partnerships in Service Learning: Assessing the Impact

Partnership with student leaders is an evolving practice that engages peer leaders to work with service learning faculty, administrators, and community partners to administer the service learning experience. This study identifies ways in which service learning associates differ from their undergraduate peers by comparing their responses to questions about goals, values, and careers on the HERI College Senior Survey to those of their undergraduate peers. The study uses a second survey, of former service learning associates one to five years after graduation, to assess the long-term impact that former student leaders attribute to their experience. This study finds that student leaders differ significantly from their peers at graduation in values and career goals, and those values do not change one to five years after graduation. Alumni report that the peer leadership program shaped their career pathways, and that the experience was fundamental to their college career.