Holding a community service fair for students with disabilities

Abstract

As part of its Special Education Initiative, The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance (PSLA) wanted to provide a convenient way for students with disabilities to find out about local volunteer opportunities that would match their interests and levels of skill. In November of 2001,The PSLA held a day-long service-learning fair for approximately 250-300 special education students of varying ability levels. Over 30 local agencies that were accepting volunteers attended. Students achieved Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and met state education standards through their attendance at the fair. This effective practice was collected from Sarah John, Special Education Initiative Coordinator with the Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance, at the 2002 National Conference on Community Volunteering and National Service in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 2002.

Issue

Matching students with disabilities to service organizations can sometimes prove to be a challenging task. Organizations' needs vary, as do levels of interest and skill on the part of the student.

Action

As part of the Special Education Initiative, The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance wanted to provide a convenient way for students with disabilities to find out about local volunteer opportunities that would match their interests and levels of skill.

The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance (PSLA) held a service-learning fair for special education students in November 2001 at a local community center's gymnasium.
All schools from the Philadelphia area were contacted through a network of Transition Coordinators (part of the Individual Education Plan team for special education students) who passed the information on to teachers.
About 30 agencies that were accepting volunteers of different ability levels were invited to the fair.
Approximately 250-300 special education students attended the event, along with some mainstream students, chaperoned by teachers from their schools.
The PSLA provided buses for the students that cost approximately $100.00 each to rent for the day long event. Some students took buses provided by SEPTA (South Eastern Philadelphia Transit Authority) and learned the mechanics of taking public transportation.
The PSLA provided 3"x5" spiral bound notebooks for each student with the title, "My Service Opportunity Notebook," written on each.
Teachers were given a guidance sheet prior to the event that provided instructions for the day of the fair. Teachers were expected to direct the students prior to and at the fair. For example, teachers were to inform students that they should:
- Introduce themselves and talk with the person or persons at the service provider or agency booth, so that they could get a clearer understanding of what kinds of services the agency provided and how they might be helpful to the agency, ascertaining what they had in common.
- Get information from the service provider or agency to add to their materials to be reviewed later, and to be kept in a bag they were given for this purpose (McDonald's provided bags for the students).
For every "appropriate interaction" a student experienced with a service provider, the student would receive a sticker for their notebook. (Service providers were given sheets of stickers prior to the event.) An "appropriate interaction" was defined as one in which the student used his or her communication skills to introduce themselves, find out about the organization, take notes, or make a commitment to service.
Service providers were prompted prior to the event to be responsible for promoting their program and to encourage "appropriate interactions" with students.
The students were told that if they filled up their book with stickers (of thirty participating agencies they would need to visit half or collect about 15 stickers), they would be eligible for a prize.
Prizes were donated by Youth Ability, a partner grantee, who used part of their grant funds to buy small prizes such as CD covers, plastic eggs with silly-putty, and other small rewards for the students.
A disc jockey was provided by a local radio station (one of the service agencies) and played music in one corner of the gymnasium for the students to dance to and to have an opportunity to socialize with other students at the fair.
The PSLA took digital photos and teachers took snapshots.
Students brought their own lunches to the event and were given a break when they could eat lunch outside in the nearby park.

Context

The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance (PSLA) is the training and technical assistance provider for the Department of Education's Learn and Serve America program in Pennsylvania. The PSLA is committed to bringing service-learning methodology to urban, rural, and suburban public schools throughout Pennsylvania and helps teachers acquire the skills they need to successfully develop, implement, evaluate, and assess service-learning projects in the classroom. PSLA training events emphasize the integration of service-learning with curriculum and academic standards. Service-learning's experiential and interactive style is conducive to career exploration, enhancing citizenship and community involvement, and teaching independent living skills while also conveying academic topics such as communications, English, math, science, and social studies.

On July 1, 2001 the Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance began an initiative to help special education teachers learn more about the teaching methodology of service-learning and the role of service-learning in the Individual Education Plans (IEPs) of special education students. With funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance targets special education programs in Pennsylvania and provides teachers and administrators with professional development opportunities for special education teachers; a competitive mini-grant program to fund special education/service learning projects; and the establishment of a special education network for teachers in Pennsylvania to discuss issues pertinent to special education, and other resources.

Outcome

For special education students, many Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and state education standards were met by attending the daylong fair. For example, communication skills such as introducing oneself were reinforced; academic skills such as taking notes and organizing paperwork were bolstered; social skills were strengthened; and life skills such as taking public transportation were learned. Self-esteem was boosted for students who attended the fair as they had the satisfaction of achieving some or all of these goals.

Participating agencies were able to recruit volunteers for their programs.

Evidence

The PSLA sent follow-up to teachers, attempting to determine how many matches between service providers and students were made. Unfortunately, teacher responses were minimal.