You Call This Service?: A Civic Ontology Approach to Evaluating Service-Learning in Diverse Communities

This article considers the impact of service-learning in diverse communities on student civic development. A key debate in the literature is whether service-learning in diverse communities fosters student moral/cognitive development or reinforces preexisting stereotypes. This debate has significant implications for student's future civic engagement. Through a qualitative analysis of 61 reflections of service-learning experiences in Oxnard, California done by undergraduate students at California Lutheran University, I develop a civic ontology model designed to assess a student's civic development. The model identifies four axes of a student's civic development (efficacy, deservedness, value judgment, and identity). The model presents service-learning scholars and practitioners with a mechanism for evaluating the outcomes of student service-learning in diverse communities.