Closing the Gap: Can Service-Learning Enhance Retention, Graduation, and GPAs of Students of Color?

Abstract

The education system is responsible for the choices and chances provided to the students it serves. Although racial disparities continue to impede some students' chance of success in education, service-learning in the classroom context may be the transformative strategy needed to make institutions of higher education the "great equalizers" they ostensibly aspire to be. Using data from an urban, public, Research I institution located in the Midwest region of the United States, this study assessed the use of service-learning in two general education courses as a strategy to increase retention and graduation rates at the institution. Service-learning was found to have a significant effect on student retention, grade point average , and graduation. Students who took either course performed better than their counterparts without service-learning experiences.