The annual award recognizes those schools that successfully make community service an integral part of their curriculum. Service-learning combines education with community service, enabling young people to build academic, workforce and citizenship skills as they help solve real-world problems in their communities.

"Service-learning challenges young people to higher achievement and prepares them for a lifetime of responsible citizenship," said Wendy Zenker, Acting CEO of the Corporation for National Service. "By integrating service-learning into their curriculum, the educators at these Leader Schools are enriching their students, their school environments and their communities."

For example, students at Tinkham Alternative High School in Westland, MI, a suburb of Detroit, successfully tutor local second and third graders in literacy skills. The high school students, who are considered at-risk, develop lesson plans, write essays, keep journals and participate in group discussions about the literacy program in their language arts and social studies classes.

Addressing a different community issue, students at Harrisonville (MO) Middle School helped a local food bank fill its pantries. As part of their service-learning effort, literature classes studied stories about poverty, science classes learned about nutrition and algebra classes charted the food drive's progress in meeting its goals.

Service-learning is a growing trend in education. The U.S. Department of Education found that in 1984, only 27 percent of all high schools sponsored community service projects and only 9 percent offered service-learning. By 1999, those numbers had risen to a remarkable 83 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

Students and service-learning staff coordinators from the newly designated Leader Schools have been invited to Washington, D.C. in June to attend a three-day leadership training. While at the institute, honorees from each school will develop a leadership plan designed to help spread the word about the value of service-learning and encourage other schools to put their own service-learning programs in place. View the list of the 2001 Service-Learning Leader Schools.

The Corporation for National Service is the largest supporter of service-learning in the country, advancing this practice through a number of initiatives. The Corporation provides grants to schools and community-based organizations, offers training and technical assistance, and administers programs such as the National Service-Learning Leader Schools award to recognize leaders in service-learning. The Corporation also administers AmeriCorps and the National Senior Service Corps.