Including special education students as camp counselors

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Abstract

My Corps Summer is a two-week program that gives special education high school students from the Philadelphia area the opportunity to gain valuable job and life skills and improve academic goals by serving as camp counselors. The university-affiliated Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance partnered with youthAbility, a program of the Jewish Education Vocation Services and the National School and Community Corps to plan and implement My Corps Summer. The program engages students in meaningful service-learning by demonstrating that they can be the providers of service, not just the recipients. Sarah John, Special Education Initiative Coordinator with the Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance, submitted this effective practice in August 2002.

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Issue

Promoting awareness of the possibilities of service work and service-learning for special education students.

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Action

Goals

The goals of the My Corps Summer Program are to provide the opportunity for special education students to achieve in academics and real life situations; to engage these students in meaningful service-learning by demonstrating that they can be the providers of service, not just the recipients; to explore the possibility of service as a post-secondary option; and to illustrate the team spirit that is integral to the service community.

Program

  • My Corps Summer is a two-week program designed to give special education students the opportunity to experience short-term membership in a National Service Corps program.
  • My Corps Summer is made possible through a Special Education Grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, allowing participation at no cost to students.
  • My Corps Summer students served as junior counselors while teaching and helping students working with National School and Community Corps (NSCC) campers with service-learning projects. (The six-week long National School and Community Corps program provides day camps for elementary age children.)
  • NSCC members facilitated two service-learning activities that the My Corps Summer students assisted with:
    • Bookmark project: elementary school students designed and decorated bookmarks and the bookmarks were then given to the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia (Ronald McDonald House runs literacy programs for students.)
    • Flowerpot project: elementary school students decorated small flowerpots and planted ivy in them for the Philadelphia Senior Center. This activity included writing "Plant Care Instructions" on a large sheet of paper that was delivered with the plants. The instructions were written from the first-person point of view (the point of view of the plants).
  • In preparation for the two-week summer camp period, My Corps Summer students learned skills necessary to be junior counselors, received training in appropriate areas for their projects, and became familiar with the responsibilities of corps members at their service site.
  • Some of the skills that the My Corps Summer students focused on enhancing were assertiveness, speaking skills and taking the initiative.
  • The My Corps Summer students were split between two program sites — Duckrey Elementary School and Morrison Elementary School — where they were supervised by a My Corps Summer staff member and an experienced teacher in special education.
  • Each My Corps Summer student was given a Personal Digital Assistant to use during the two-week camp. The PDAs were purchased through a grant from the Jewish Employment Educational Services.
  • My Corps Summer students learned how to make and serve healthy snacks. The "My Corps Summer CORE Recipe Book" was created and distributed to campers. Most of the recipes used apples since they are nutritious and tasty and are also in keeping with the "corps" theme.
  • A celebration took place on the last day of camp. My Corps Summer students chose to spend the day at an entertainment complex where they ate lunch, were presented with t-shirts and certificates to acknowledge their service, and spent the afternoon playing video games.
Logistics
  • The university-affiliated Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance partnered with youthAbility, a program of the Jewish Education Vocation Services and the National School and Community Corps to plan and implement the My Corps Summer Program.
  • The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance compiled a recruitment list and sent information about the My Corps Summer Program to approximately 65 special education high school students. These names were collected from summer job and volunteer fairs that were held at two high schools.
  • Detailed information about the My Corps Summer Program was sent to the students' homes.
  • Eleven students responded for interviews and went on to participate in the program.
  • Mandatory interviews were held prior to the program that gave program leaders a chance to meet and talk with parents and guardians of the students who would be participating.
  • The program ran for two weeks in July 2002 during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily.
  • The first day of the program served as an information day. General information was available for parents and guardians, as well as a question and answer period. On this day, students participated in "getting to know you" and team formation activities.

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Context

The Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance (PSLA) is the training and technical assistance provider for the Department of Education's Learn and Serve program in Pennsylvania. 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 to discuss issues pertinent to special education, as well as other resources.

YouthAbility is a two-year program that provides outreach to and recruitment of young people with disabilities into national and community service programs. Under the direction of the International Association of Jewish Vocational Services and funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, ten affiliates collaborate to implement this innovative national project that promotes service among the nation's disabled youth. The project provides information about national service programs to youth with disabilities, establishes recruitment programs, and helps national and community service programs adapt their programs to make them more inclusive and accommodating to individuals with disabilities.

The National School and Community Corps (NSCC) is an AmeriCorps national service program that is a dynamic part of school restructuring, joining national service with urban school reform. One of the goals of the NSCC is to help create safe, educationally rich environments for students, their families and the community, particularly during non-school hours and the summer months, reinforcing curriculum and service-learning.

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Outcome

Special education students:
  • Met community needs
  • Gained invaluable job and life skills
  • Improved academic achievement (all of the activities strengthened learning outcomes as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards)

A letter was written to parents explaining student's achievements and their strengths and weaknesses.

An official form was generated for each student, stating the activities they participated in and the numbers of hours completed. This was sent to students' high schools as documentation that the student fulfilled his/her service-learning requirement(s). Further, this was meant to encourage parents, teachers, and other school staff to accept service-learning as teaching methodology in special education classrooms by identifying skills needed while participating in corps members' activities, documenting life skills needed to become a successful corps member and evaluating what skills need to be acquired.

Through observations by staff and teachers, a recommended list of skills was developed to promote the success of a student who desires to become a member of a national service corps program. This is a useful tool for program directors that are interested in extending their program to include special education youth.

National and community service organizations successfully partnered to provide the program to youth with disabilities in the Philadelphia area.

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Evidence

After the initial program year (2002) some of the students made up their minds that they would like to be camp counselors or that they would like to join AmeriCorps for a term of service. (As reported by the Daily Pennsylvanian; see Resources, below.)

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Posted On

August 13, 2002

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For More Information

Pennsylvania Service-Learning Alliance

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Resources

Herrup, Katherine. Mentoring Program Underway The Daily Pennsylvanian. July 25, 2002. [http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=ea907ed7-0116-4836-8bc0-f760df516e3e] accessed July 27, 2007.

Related Practices

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Related sites

International Association of Jewish Vocational Services youthAbility

EducationWorks: National School and Community Corps

Pennsylvania Department of Education

Center for Schools and Communities

Learn and Serve America

Topic Areas

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