Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Are City Managers Greedy Bureaucrats?, John R. Bartle, Ronnie Lacourse Korosec

Public Administration Faculty Publications

William A. Niskanen's (1971, 1975) theory of bureaucracy has been a source of much debate and research.^ The theory assumes that utility-maximizing bureaucrats will seek to maximize their agency's discretionary budget. A central implication of this theory is that bureaus will supply output inefficiently or in quantities greater than that desired by citizens.

The authors test Niskanen's hypothesis by examining the decision of cities to contract out for services. Their premise is that city managers fit the characteristics of the greedy bureaucrat Niskanen describes. If his theory is valid, then city managers should be expected to avoid contracting out because …

Communo Magazine, Spring 1995, School Of Communication

CommUNO Magazine

CommUNO magazine is currently produced annually by the UNO School of Communication: 6001 Dodge Street, ASH 140, Omaha, NE 68182: Phone: 402.554.2600. Fax: 402.554.3836. For more information, follow us on Twitter@ CommUNO, join the “UNO School of Communication” page on Facebook or visit communication.unomaha.edu.

Experiential-Learning Activities In Undergraduate Developmental Psychology, Andrea D. Clements

Higher Education

In two studies, I examined student responses to an increased emphasis on experiential activities in a required undergraduate developmental psychology course. For four experiential sections (n=134), each class topic was related to a specific, real-world application. Four other sections (n=187) were taught primarily by lecture, with one out-of-class observation assignment. The experiential sections rated the value of and interest in the subject matter higher and the courtesy and consideration of the instructor significantly more positively than did the lecture sections. Students in the two types of sections did not differ significantly in achievement. A follow-up study identified the origin of …

English Language Arts And Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue Benson, Robert D. Shumer

Bibliographies

Community service and service-learning projects represent a powerful forum for developing language and communication skills. Connections with the community reinvigorate language education while enhancing the civic awareness of students. The sources selected for this topic bibliography are intended to aid practitioners in thinking about and developing service activities in their classrooms, schools and communities. The first section contains references providing background information and conceptual frameworks useful in thinking broadly about the role of service in the English language arts. This is followed by items which feature description of service programs or information pertinent to program development. Records in each section …

English Language Arts And Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue-Benson, Robert D. Shumer

Bibliographies

Community service and service-learning projects represent a powerful forum for developing language and communication skills. Connections with the community reinvigorate language education while enhancing the civic awareness of students. The sources selected for this topic bibliography are intended to aid practitioners in thinking about and developing service activities in their classrooms, schools and communities. The first section contains references providing background information and conceptual frameworks useful in thinking broadly about the role of service in the English language arts. This is followed by items which feature description of service programs or information pertinent to program development. Records in each section …

Proceedings Of The First Annual Nebraska Aviation Education Association Conference, James E. Crehan, Uno Aviation Institute

Faculty Books and Monographs

UNOAI Report 94-5

Civics, Social Studies And Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue Benson, Robert D. Shumer

Bibliographies

Participation in service activities can be a vital component to civics and social studies education. The sources selected for this topic bibliography are intended to aid practitioners in thinking about and developing service activities in their classrooms, schools and communities. The first section contains references providing background information and conceptual frameworks useful in thinking broadly about the role of service in education and youth development. This is followed by items which feature description of service programs or information pertinent to program development. Finally, Section Three has references discussing the civic and citizenship education context surrounding any service activity. Records in …

Intergenerational Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue Benson, Robert D. Shumer

Bibliographies

This topic bibliography is produced in response to numerous requests from service and education practitioners for information on intergenerational issues and programs. Additional records have been added in this most recent revision. The primary source for the below citations and annotations is the Eduational Resources Information Center's (ERIC) database of Resources In Education and Current Index to Journals in Education. This material is supplemented by references from a draft bibliography by Generations United as well as some resources abstracted by the National Information Center for Service-Learning. Records from each source are indicated by ERIC, GU, and NICSL, respectively, following the …

Impacts And Effects Of Service Topic Bibliography, Robin Vue Benson, Robert D. Shumer, Madeleine S. Hengel

Bibliographies

Many claims have been made about the impact of service-learning on participants, programs and communities. From positive influences on psychological, social and intellectual development to effects on alienation, attitudes and social behavior, service-learning has been mentioned as a method of achieving these outcomes. Additional reviews of the literature in areas related to civic participation and general engagement in the public, political process indicate that service-learning can have an affect on the civic development of youth.

On the other hand, some studies have indicated service-learning does not always have the desired outcomes. As Dan Conrad points out in his review of …

Lessons Learned: Institutionalizing Service On The Campus, Corporation For National Service, Cooperative Education Assocation

Conference Proceedings

Learn and Serve America: Higher Education Corporation for National Service. January 26, 1995 Telebriefing: "Institutionalizing Service on Your Campus" Resource Packet.

Community Partnerships: Collaboration For Youth Service Learning, Terry Pickeral, Beau Bassett, Rachel Vaughn

Conference Proceedings

On behalf of the Alaska State Community Service Commission, I would like to welcome you to a series of training, forums, and workshops on Learn & Serve America programs. These programs have great potential to impact the youth and adults of our community.

We are pleased to have Terry Pickeral and Rachael Vaughn with us for the week and hope to learn from them additional ways that the people of Alaska can help to create collaborative relationships for youth service, volunteerism, educational reform, and community involvement.

The Alaska State Community Service Commission has been developing a State Pan that proposes …

The Minnesota Americorps-Youth Works Evaluation Plan, Robert D. Shumer, Jane Maland

Evaluation/Reflection

Passage of the Youth Works bill is important legislation. It brings Minnesota to the forefront of the national service movement and sets standards for other states to follow. Because Youth Works leads the nation in involving young people in service to their community ad their state, the evaluation design also reflects the innovative spirit of the legislation. The state evaluation design incorporates the best of other evaluative studies of service programs and promotes new processes which reflect the intent of the legislation.

The state evaluation of the AmeriCorps-Youth Works Programs promotes programmatic self-evaluation, while it links together state and federal …

Social Studies Moves Into The Community, Sally Fellows

School K-12

Active Citizenship Today, a program of service-learning pilot projects in the Omaha Public Schools, demonstrates service learning with a corollary, the examination of public policy. Five projects, involving students in geography, history, and government classes, illustrate what students have lead through community service.

A Concern About... Connecting School-To-Work And Service Learning, Council Of Chief State School Officers

School K-12

As interest has grown in school-to-work transition programs and service learning, the commonalities between the two have become increasingly clear. Service learning and school-to-work are forms of experiential education that extend student learning into the community and the worksite. Both provide students with contextualized learning opportunities. Through service learning and school-to-work programs, students engage in learning experiences that help develop organizational, team, and problem-solving skills as well as the competencies and foundation skills identified as important for employability and responsible citizenship (SCANS, 1992; W.T. Grant Commission, 1988).

Service,Learning As An Integrated Experience In Middle School Education: An Introduction To Resources And Information, Dawn Wegter

School K-12

This resource guide outlines 18 service-learning projects throughout the United States focused on middle schools. Listed, in each case, are the project's description, sponsoring organization, the objectives, the project's framework, training information, materials, and ordering information.

The Contribution Of Religion To Volunteer Work, John Wilson, Thomas Janoski

Special Topics, General

The connection between church membership, church activism, and volunteering is explored using a three-wave panel study of young adults. Volunteering to help others solve community problems is more likely among members of churches that emphasize this-worldly social concerns, especially among those socially involved in these churches. Among Catholics, the connection between church involvement and volunteering is formed early and remains strong. Among liberal Protestants, the connection is made only in middle age. Among moderate and conservative Protestants there is little connection at all. Conservative Protestants who attend church regularly are less likely to be involved in secular volunteering and more …

Action Research In The Service Of Learning, Warren Everett

Special Topics, General

Alma High School has a 9th-12th grade student population of about 720 in a primarily rural setting in Michigan's middle-of-the-mitten. We are considered a low-economic area with more than 40% of the students qualifying for free or reduced lunches. Some light industry remains, but what was the national center of mobile home production is completely gone as well as the linking industries. Student enrollment has dropped by nearly half over the last 20 years. In 1990, 9% of the 0-17 year-olds were Latino, most of whom were poor academic achievers. While our community has a prominent small college and a …

Service Learning Standards: Draft Interim Content And Performance Standards, California Department Of Education

Special Topics, General

The Challenge School District Reform Initiative calls on California's educators and parents to embrace a simple but powerful concept: school districts must set high content and performance standards for student achievement-stating clearly and publicly what each student should know and be able to do at the end of each year in each subject area. Schools are challenged to hold themselves accountable for results, reporting precisely how well their students are achieving and how many students are meeting the school district standards.

Partners: The Shared Service Experience, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Of America

Special Topics, General

Partners: The Shared Service Experience documents Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of America's (BB/BSA's) first national initiative designed to encourage Big Brother-Little Brother and Big Sister-Little Sister pairs to become partners in community service. Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BB/BS) agencies, and the volunteers they rely on to provide service to children and youth, can have a far-reaching positive effect on local communities. The key is to educate adults and youth about the individual and societal benefits of community service activities. This gives the "Littles" an opportunity to take on "Big" roles by contributing to their neighborhoods.

Usd And Community Partners. .. A Team Approach To Service-Learning, Learn And Serve America

Special Topics, General

The University of San Diego received a Corporation for National Service "Learn and Serve America: Higher Education Enhancement" grant during the 1994-95 academic year. Over 325 students from 18 classes enhanced their classroom learning by integrating course theory with their community service-learning experiences. How and why did this happen?

Creating A School And Community Culture To Sustain Service Leaming, Caroline Allam

Service Learning, General

"You guys have always done this stuff for us. It's our town. We're the ones that are going to have to run the town after you old guys are gone. We ought to get a shot at making some deicisions about the future (Lysen 1992, p. 8).

This strong sentiment came from a Bath Junior High School student who was working with peers, teachers, scientists, and other community members to conduct water quality tests on the Kennebec River in Maine. The statement reflects the desire and willingness of young people to work together, to assume responsibility and stewardship for their …

Community Service Learning Is A Foregone Conclusion At The Lincoln Elementary School, Michelle Boorstein

Service Learning, General

For the staff at Lincoln Elementary School in Springfield, Massachusetts, articulating the many ways in which community service learning affects their school is nearly impossible. The principal says he doesn't require people to do community service. Yet, on any given day, students all over the school are learning through service projects.

Service Learning, Diversity, And The Liberal Arts Curriculum, Richard Battistoni

Service Learning, General

In the many years I have been teaching, I have attempted to engage students in issues surrounding their place as citizens in a multicultural democracy. In my second year of involvement in AAC&U's American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy, and Liberal Learning project, I have become acquainted with the perspectives of faculty from different disciplines and institutions and with a wide array of excellent multicultural materials and curricula; but even the best of curricula tend to be somewhat abstract.

Service Learning And Curriculum Transfusion, Irving H. Budchen

Service Learning, General

Newcomers to service learning, caught up by its initial successes, are frequently not aware that service learning is capable, with appropriate long-term structuring, of exhibiting developmental stages that feed into patterns of academic growth.

Inclusion And Community Service Learning: A Partnership, Mary Chamberlain

Service Learning, General

Teachers and students, already burdened by seemingly overwhelming curriculum demands, are seeing more areas of study moved into the schools as a result of today's societal needs. Community service learning must not be perceived as yet another burden, but as an integrated part of the curriculum, an enhancement to teaching and learning.

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997, Learn And Serve America

Project Summaries

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997 from Glendale Community College.

Senior Center In Seattle Applauds Service-Learning, Nola L. Freeman

Intergenerational

In the fall of 1992, the Pike Market Senior Center, an urban gathering place for a widely diverse community of low income elders, joined 30 other sites in the Seattle area in accepting an invitation from the Carlson Leadership and Public Service Office at the University of Washington. In accepting this invitation, these sites agreed to help the office accomplish the following mission: "To promote, support, and organize opportunities for undergraduates to become involved in effective public service, helping them to mature in their understanding of complex social, philosophical, economic, and political issues, and instilling in them a life-long commitment …

By The People: Citizenship And National Service, The Center For Democracy And Citizenship, Harry C. Boyt

Guides

As an AmeriCorps member, you are part of a national effort, a national movement, to address some of America's most pressing problems -- from education to violence, health care to the environment. AmeriCorps members demonstrate that citizens can be serious players in public life and can build the foundations for a healthy and flourishing society in the 21st century. AmeriCorps broadens our understanding of democracy and citizenship, returning us to our nation's wellsprings.

Students Trained In Advocacy And Community Service: Training Manual, Pennsylvania Campus Compact

Guides

A fundamental goal of the STACS program is to further develop students to become "community leaders" or "active citizens." Many historians, philosophers, and social scientists, after Witnessing a process of social disorganization and a decline in local community life, have concluded that the processes that fragment and change communities are inevitable. These processes have been called many things: progress, modernization, urbanization, industrialization, secularization, and "the great change" (Rollans Warren). Change itself has been measured in terms of loss, decline, and deterioration of traditional communities. In discussions that emerge as a result of the Citizenship Development component of the STACS workshops …

Students' Reflection On Community Service Learning, Jay D. Anderson

Evaluation/Reflection

Internships are a rapidly expanding educational technique to enhance students' ability to learn. Internships permit and encourage students to experience the real world while receiving academic credit. Seekonk High School in Seekonk, Massachusetts, has an internship program for high school seniors called Independent Study. It allows students to leave school one day a week for the school year and volunteer within the community. Students receive academic credit for their participation in community service learning.