Student Participation in Community Service Activity / Chapter 2
Level of Participation
An estimated 49 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 reported that they participated in a community service activity during the 1995-96 school year (table 1)[4]. They were interviewed over the period January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996, so some additional students may have participated later in that school year. The students were split fairly evenly between those who participated only once or twice (23 percent) and those who participated more regularly (26 percent). No attempt was made to define "regular" participation more specifically because of the many types of participation that would appropriately be considered regular, including spending several hours during 1 day each month working in a nursing home, babysitting toddlers during church services each week, or reading to younger students for 20 minutes on 2 or 3 school days each month. However, information on the total number of hours of regular participation was collected. With the school year not yet completed, 12 percent of regular participants reported already volunteering more than 30 hours, and nearly 20 percent had volunteered more than 10 hours (figure 1).
Table 1.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported community service participation, by selected student characteristics: 1996
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Participated by time of interview/1/ Will participate
----------------------------------------------------- before the end
Regular One or two Total (any of the school Will not participate
Characteristic Number of participation times participation) year/2/ this school year
student ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ----------------------
(thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
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Total 25,726 26 0.6 23 0.6 49 0.7 31 0.7 20 0.6
Student's grade/3/
6-8 11,535 23 0.9 24 0.9 47 1.1 34 1.1 19 0.9
9-10 7,429 24 1.0 22 1.0 45 1.0 35 1.3 20 1.0
11-12 6,760 32 1.3 24 1.4 56 1.4 22 1.1 22 1.1
Student's academic performance/4/
Mostly A 8,689 33 1.2 27 1.1 60 1.3 26 1.3 13 0.8
Mostly B 9,833 24 1.0 24 1.1 48 1.3 32 1.1 20 0.9
Mostly C 5,809 19 1.0 19 1.3 38 1.4 36 1.5 26 1.4
Mostly D or F 1,394 16 2.4 15 2.0 30 3.0 37 3.4 33 2.8
Student's sex
Male 13,190 22 0.7 23 0.8 45 0.9 32 0.8 23 0.8
Female 12,537 29 0.9 24 0.8 53 1.1 31 1.0 16 0.8
Student's race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic 17,322 27 0.7 25 0.7 53 0.9 28 0.8 20 0.7
Black, non-Hispanic 4,112 22 1.7 21 1.8 43 1.9 39 2.0 18 1.6
Hispanic 3,281 21 1.6 17 1.3 38 1.8 40 1.9 22 1.5
Other 1,012 27 2.4 23 2.9 50 3.0 26 2.4 24 2.9
Language spoken most at home by student
English 24,164 26 0.6 24 0.7 50 0.8 30 0.7 20 0.6
Other 1,562 15 1.9 16 2.0 32 2.5 45 2.7 23 2.2
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1\ Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple activities without being classified as regular participants if no individual activity was performed regularly.
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
3\ One case was coded ungraded, no equivalent. It was not included in this analysis.
4\ This variable is from the NHES: 96 Parent and Family Involvement in Education/Civic Involvement (PFI/CI) data file.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Figure 1.- Percent of 6th through 12th grade students and their total hours of participation in regular community service during the current school year: 1996
NOTE: Standard errors are as follows: no community service, 0.7; community service one or two times only, 0.6; regular community service, 0.6; 10 or fewer hours, 0.3; 11-30 hours, 0.3; 31-80 hours, 0.4; more than 80 hours, 0.3. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
In addition to those students who said they already had participated in community service, another 31 percent said they had not yet participated but that they planned to before the school year was completed. This response option was provided because the survey was conducted sometime between January 2, 1996, and April 13, 1996, so there still may have been considerable time to participate in such activities. Depending on when the students were interviewed, between 10 percent and 50 percent of the school year remained. However, students' reported plans to participate should not be considered as definite as the other responses. Many people make plans that they do not fulfill. Also, some students may have said they planned to participate in order to please the interviewer (i.e., to give a socially desirable response), rather than because they really expected to follow through. The methodology section of this report provides data suggesting that many of these students ultimately did not participate in community service during the school year. This report, therefore, focuses on those students who already had participated as being the best measure of student participation.
Plans to Participate Next Year
Students also were asked if they planned to participate in community service in the next school year. Since students' expectations of participating later in the school year may often have been left unfulfilled, it is difficult to evaluate the accuracy of students' projections for the next year. Still, it appears that once students start participating, they generally expect to continue (table 2). Of those who already participated regularly in community service, 92 percent expected to also participate in the next year. A comparable percentage (89 percent) of those who had participated once or twice also expected to participate again in the next year.[5] Students who expected to participate by the end of the school year were less likely to say they would participate the next year (84 percent) than students who had participated (91 percent), and students who neither participated nor planned to participate later in the school year were the least likely to expect to participate (49 percent).
Table 2.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported plans for community service participation next year, by community service participation in the current year: 1996
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Student plans to do Student does not plan to do
Number of community service next year community service next year
Characteristics students ----------------------------- -----------------------------
(thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 25,726 80 0.6 20 0.6
Community service participation
Any participation by time of
interview/1/ 12,627 91 0.5 9 0.5
Regular 6,596 92 0.7 8 0.7
1 or 2 times 6,031 89 0.9 11 0.9
Will participate later this school
year/2/ 8,005 84 0.9 16 0.9
No participation this school year 5,094 49 1.8 51 1.8
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1\ Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple activities without being classified as regular participants if no individual activity was performed regularly.
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Student Characteristics
Student characteristics are likely to be related to community service participation. Such characteristics as the students' race/ethnicity, grade level, and school performance are often related to the resources available to the students (e.g., for transportation or for clothing or supplies used in the service), students' knowledge of and access to community service opportunities (e.g., based on contacts through family or friends), and students' skills and attitudes that may affect community service (e.g., self-esteem and self-efficacy). A recent study by Independent Sector (1996b) shows a relationship between one student characteristic - race/ethnicity - and community service, with blacks and Hispanics being less likely to participate than whites.
Using a broad range of student characteristics, the current study confirms that some types of students are more likely to participate than others (table 1). There was an especially strong relationship between students' academic performance and their participation, with 60 percent participating among students who reported receiving mostly As, compared with 48 percent of those receiving mostly Bs, 38 percent of those receiving mostly Cs, and 30 percent of those receiving mostly Ds and Fs. It is not possible from the data to determine the direction of the relationship; Shumer (1994) found that participation had a positive effect on school grades, but other factors that are related to grades (such as household income and the education level of adults in the household, both of which precede student participation) also are related to student participation. It may be that both explanations are correct: student participation may affect student grades, while the kinds of students who participate may also be the ones more likely to receive high grades.
Students were also more likely to participate if they were female (53 percent) than male (45 percent), white (53 percent) rather than black or Hispanic (38-43 percent), and if English was the primary language they spoke at home (50 percent versus 32 percent). Finally, 11th and 12th graders were more likely to participate than those in earlier grades (56 percent versus 45-47 percent); some possible explanations for this difference are differences in student maturity based on age (as in Miller 1994), greater mobility, or the need to fulfill a community service requirement before graduating.
It is possible that just as there were differences among students who participated, there might also be differences in how much they participated. One type of student might tend to participate once or twice, while other types might tend to participate more regularly. For example, the additional increment of participants in one group might be based on an increased percentage of students who participated only once or twice, while there were no differences between the groups in the percentage who participated more regularly. However, the general result, as in the overall findings, was that students who participated in community service were split fairly evenly between those who participated one or two times and those who participated more regularly. The major exceptions were among 11th and 12th graders, who were more likely to participate regularly than to participate once or twice (32 percent versus 24 percent), students who received mostly As (33 percent participated regularly versus 27 percent who participated one or two times), and females (29 percent versus 24 percent). For females and for 11th and 12th graders, it is the relatively large number who participated regularly who are responsible for the overall differences in participation rates, while there were only small differences in the percentage who participated one or two times. Students who received mostly As showed a different pattern; they were more likely than those receiving Ds and Fs not only to participate regularly, but also to participate one or two times.
Alternative Student Activities
Student activities might also play an important role in terms of whether or not a student gets involved in community service. Several different hypotheses on the relationship can be developed regarding the relationship between student activities and participation in community services. On the one hand, involvement in other activities demonstrates self-efficacy and a desire to be involved, so that students who are involved in one activity might also be involved in community service. On the other hand, involvement in alternative activities could also be expected to reduce the amount of time available for community service, so that one type of involvement might compete with the other - especially if the community service occurs regularly.
The data suggest that the first hypothesis is more accurate: students who were involved in alternative activities were more likely to be involved in community service as well (table 3). For example, 42 percent of the students who were involved in student government also said they regularly participated in community service, compared with 22 percent of those not in student government. Similarly, 31 percent of those who were involved in other school activities, and 32 percent of those involved in non-school activities, said they regularly participated in community services, compared to 14-15 percent of other students. Even students who worked for pay, who might be hypothesized to be more needy and/or to be more oriented to satisfying their personal needs, were more likely to say they participated regularly in community service than students who did not work (30 percent versus 21 percent).
No direct measure of hours spent in other activities was collected. However, a sense of the level of commitment to other activities can be developed by looking at the number of different kinds of activities in which students were involved. The greater the number of types of activities that students were involved in, the more likely they were to also report regularly participating in community service; for example, 51 percent of the students who participated in all four of the listed activities also said they participated regularly in community service, compared with 37 percent of those who participated in three of the four activities, and 8 percent of those who participated in none of the four activities.
Table 3.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported community service participation, by selected student activities: 1996
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Will participate
Participated by time of interview/1/ before the end Will not
Regular One or two Total (any of the school participate
Number of participation times participation) year/2/ this school year
students -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Activity (thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 25,726 26 0.6 23 0.6 49 0.7 31 0.7 20 0.6
Student involved in
student government/3/
Yes 4,247 42 1.6 28 1.6 70 1.6 21 1.3 9 0.9
No 21,479 22 0.6 23 0.7 45 0.8 33 0.8 22 0.6
Student involved in other
school activities
Yes 17,491 31 0.8 26 0.8 57 0.9 28 0.9 15 0.5
No 8,235 14 0.8 17 1.0 32 1.3 38 1.2 30 1.2
Student involved in non-
school activities
Yes 16,201 32 0.7 28 0.8 60 0.8 26 0.8 14 0.5
No 9,526 15 0.8 16 0.9 31 1.1 40 1.3 29 1.2
Student worked for pay
Yes 12,468 30 0.9 26 1.0 56 1.0 27 0.9 17 0.7
No 13,258 21 0.8 21 0.7 43 1.0 35 1.0 22 0.8
Numbers of types of
student activity/4/
0 2,423 8 1.4 12 1.5 20 1.9 46 2.3 35 2.0
1 6,313 14 1.0 17 1.1 31 1.4 39 1.5 30 1.3
2 8,568 26 1.0 24 1.0 50 1.2 31 1.1 19 1.0
3 6,731 37 1.2 31 1.2 68 1.2 22 1.1 10 0.7
4 1,691 51 2.7 29 2.5 81 2.1 16 1.9 4 0.8
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1\ Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple act
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
3\ Includes running for office, working on a campaign, or serving in the student government.
4\ Total number of activities in which the student reported that he or she participated, based on the following four categories: student government, other school activities, organized non-school activities, and working for pay either regularly or occasionally.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Family Characteristics
Student behavior is often strongly related to the student's family background. Student community service activity is probably no different since the family environment is likely to affect students' interest in community service and their ability to participate. For instance, one study (Independent Sector 1996b) found that participation was much higher among students who said both parents volunteered than among students who said neither parent volunteered (78 percent versus 47 percent). Parental education and income may affect the resources available to help students participate, including the knowledge of what opportunities might be available, and the transportation or other resources that might be needed. Two-parent families might provide more support for community service than one-parent families, either directly (e.g., two-parent families may have more time and resources for their own participation in community service and in supporting their children), or indirectly (e.g., whether the parental environment affects such student characteristics as self-esteem and self-efficacy, which in turn may affect student participation).
Each of the above family characteristics was associated with whether or not the students participated (or planned to participate) in community service (table 4). Students were more likely to participate if an adult in the household participated in community service (57 percent) than if no adult participated (39 percent). They also were more likely to participate if the highest degree held by a parent in the household was a college degree or higher (58-64 percent) than if no adult had a college degree (34-48 percent), and if the household income was more than $40,000 (53-60 percent) than if it was lower (37-47 percent). Finally, students in two-parent households were more likely to participate than those in one-parent households (52 percent versus 43 percent).
Again, student participants tended to be relatively evenly split between those who participated once or twice and those who participated more regularly. Two exceptions were that students who had an adult in the household who performed community service were more likely to participate regularly than once or twice (32 percent versus 26 percent) as were students who had a parent with a graduate or professional degree (35 percent versus 29 percent).
Table 4.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported participation in community service, by selected household characteristics: 1996
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Participated by time of interview/1/ Will participate
---------------------------------------------------- of the school Will not
Regular One or two Total (any before the end participate
Number of participation times participation) year/2/ this school year
students ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ------------------
Characteristic (thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 25,726 26 0.6 23 0.6 49 0.7 31 0.7 20 0.6
Household income
$10,000 or less 3,262 19 2.1 18 1.9 37 2.4 41 2.5 22 1.9
$10,001 to $20,000 3,374 21 1.6 22 1.8 44 1.7 36 1.6 21 1.6
$20,001 to $30,000 4,112 24 1.6 21 1.7 46 1.7 32 1.8 22 1.6
$30,001 to $40,000 3,755 24 1.3 22 1.5 47 1.6 33 1.5 20 1.4
$40,001 to $50,000 2,837 26 1.3 26 1.8 53 2.0 28 1.5 20 1.5
$50,001 to $75,000 4,378 30 1.4 25 1.3 56 1.5 26 1.4 19 1.1
More than $75,000 4,007 32 1.5 28 1.4 60 1.8 25 1.6 16 1.1
Parents/guardians'
highest education
Less than high school 2,469 15 2.0 18 2.0 34 2.3 44 2.7 23 2.0
High school diploma or
equivalent 7,775 22 1.0 20 1.1 42 1.3 36 1.2 22 1.1
Vocational education or
some college 7,472 25 1.0 23 1.0 48 1.2 31 1.2 21 1.1
College degree 3,881 29 1.7 29 1.5 58 1.5 26 1.5 16 1.3
Graduate/professional
training or degree 4,129 35 1.5 29 1.5 64 1.9 22 1.6 14 1.0
Number of parents/
guardians in the
household
1 7,978 22 1.2 21 1.2 43 1.2 34 1.2 23 1.1
2 17,748 27 0.6 25 0.7 52 0.8 30 0.7 18 0.6
Any adult in the
household does
community service
Yes 13,785 32 0.9 26 0.8 57 1.0 28 0.9 14 0.7
No 11,941 19 0.8 21 0.9 39 1.1 34 0.9 26 0.9
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1\ Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple activities without being classified as regular participants if no individual activity was performed regularly.
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Community Characteristics
Though one would not expect the student to be affected as closely by the community as by the family, the nature of the community also determines the role models offered to students, the resources available, and the opportunities for service. For the most part, the differences among students based on community characteristics were not as strong as those based on personal and family characteristics (table 5). However, just as household income was related to community service, community-based measures of wealth also were related to community service. Students living in ZIP codes where less than 5 percent of the families were below the poverty level in income were more likely to participate than those in ZIP codes where 20 percent or more lived in poverty (54 percent versus 42 percent). Also, students living in ZIP codes where more than 60 percent of the households were owner occupied were more likely to report participating than were students in areas with lower ownership rates (50-51 percent versus 45 percent). Community-based measures of wealth are closely related to household income (e.g., families with high incomes are likely to live in communities with high income), so these findings do not necessarily indicate that the community had an impact that was independent of the household characteristics.
School Characteristics
One focus of this report is on the role that schools play in students' participation in community service. It is therefore helpful to examine general patterns of participation based on school type before looking in more detail at specific school policies that may affect student participation. The school type may be important both because it may be related to the type of policies and opportunities at schools concerning community service, and because to the degree that students and parents are able to select which schools the students attend (i.e., especially among private schools, though students are sometimes able to choose among public schools as well), student and family characteristics and attitudes may be interrelated with school characteristics.
There was a great difference in participation depending on which type of school the student attended (table 6). Students in private schools were more likely than those in public schools to report they participated in community service (66 percent versus 47 percent). This difference was most pronounced when comparing students in church-related schools to public schools (69 percent versus 47 percent)[6]. Students in church-related private schools also differed from the general pattern by being more likely to have participated regularly (40 percent) than to have participated once or twice (28 percent).
Table 5.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported community service participation, by selected community characteristics: 1996
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Participated by time of interview/1/ Will participate
---------------------------------------------------- before the end Will not
Regular One or two Total (any of the school participate
Number of participation times participation) year/2/ this school year
Characteristic students ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ------------------
(thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
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Total 25,726 26 0.6 23 0.6 49 0.7 31 0.7 20 0.6
Census region
Northeast 5,295 26 1.1 21 1.3 47 1.6 32 1.5 22 1.2
South 8,842 25 1.0 24 1.0 49 1.1 33 1.1 19 0.9
Midwest 6,186 26 1.3 25 1.3 51 1.6 29 1.4 20 1.3
West 5,403 26 1.3 24 1.2 50 1.6 31 1.4 19 1.2
Percent of families below
poverty in ZIP code/3/
Less than 5 percent 7,424 29 1.1 25 1.1 54 1.4 28 1.3 19 1.0
5 to 9 percent 7,489 26 1.1 24 1.1 50 1.3 30 1.1 20 1.2
10 to 19 percent 7,250 24 1.1 23 1.1 47 1.2 32 1.4 21 1.1
20 percent or more 3,563 22 1.6 20 1.6 42 1.7 39 1.9 19 1.4
Percent of households in
ZIP code owner occupied/3/
60 percent or less 6,704 23 1.1 22 1.1 45 1.2 35 1.2 20 1.1
61 to 70 percent 6,492 28 1.4 22 1.3 50 1.6 29 1.4 20 1.2
71 percent or more 12,530 26 0.8 25 0.9 51 1.1 30 1.0 19 0.8
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1\ 1 Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple activities without being classified as regular participants if no individual activity was performed regularly.
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
3\ These variables are from the NHES:96 Household & Library restricted data file, which can be obtained from NCES under a special licensing agreement.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Table 6.-Percent of students in grades 6 through 12 and their reported participation in community service, by selected school characteristics: 1996
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Participated by time of interview1 Will participate
-------------------------------------------------- before the end Will not
Regular One or two Total (any of the school participate
Number of participation times participation) year2 this school year
Characteristic students -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ------------------
(thousands) Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
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School type
Public 23,343 24 0.6 23 0.6 47 0.8 32 0.7 21 0.6
Assigned 20,010 24 0.7 23 0.7 47 0.8 32 0.8 21 0.7
Chosen 3,332 28 1.8 22 1.9 50 2.0 32 2.1 18 1.3
Private 2,383 38 2.1 28 2.1 66 2.3 22 2.0 13 1.3
Church-related 1,851 40 2.7 28 2.3 69 2.8 20 2.2 11 1.5
Not church-related 533 29 4.8 28 4.2 57 5.0 26 4.0 17 3.6
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1\ Data were collected from January 2, 1996, through April 13, 1996. Any student who reported participating in at least one activity more than twice is classified as a regular participant. Students may have participated in multiple activities without being classified as regular participants if no individual activity was performed regularly.
2\ Only students who had not done community service by the time of the interview were asked this question.
NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, , National Household Education Survey, spring 1996, Youth Civic Involvement component.
Footnotes:
[4] Given that the NHES survey focused on volunteer activity during the school year, this estimate is roughly comparable to an Independent Sector report (1996b) indicating that 59 percent of teenagers volunteered sometime during the entire year prior to their interview.
[5] Given these high percentages, an analysis was performed to examine the possible effect of incorporating community service into the curriculum on students' expected participation the next year. For those students who had already participated (these were the only students asked about curriculum incorporation), the expectation of participating in the next year was uniformly high (ranging from 88 to 93 percent) regardless of the ways in which the curriculum was involved.
[6] These findings are consistent with those reported in Frase (1995). That study was based on data from the NELS:88 database and was limited to high school seniors.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 3. School Practices to Encourage Participation and Learning
