| The USDA Ellen Swallow Richards Leadership Learning Program sought to train a diverse group of undergraduate students with superior leadership promise in the expanding fields of Human Sciences. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to integrate experiential learning (i.e. service-learning) with a model of leadership called servant-leadership and explore how both service-learning pedagogy and servant-leadership impacted levels of civic engagement in American society controlling for age, gender and race at four mid-Atlantic institutions---one 2 year community college and three 4 year public colleges and universities. The grant allowed for two cohorts to be tested (2006-2007 Cohort, n = 11; 2007-2008 Cohort, n = 12, with a control group, n = 13). The battery of tests used in a pre-test/post-test approach was the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI), the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Services Experience Survey. The data from the tests yielded basic leadership measurements in three servant-leadership character traits (i.e. awareness, empathy and listening skills) as well as self-reported response data regarding student participants' perceptions of their own level of civic engagement measured at two different phases of the program. The data from all three instruments was evaluated using the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test, a non-parametric approach with sample sizes less than thirty (n < 50) and distributions that cannot be assumed to be normal. The research hypotheses for this study were analyzed and rejected based on inconsistent patterns in the significant increases within the two experimental cohorts and a flawed control group. However, there were indications that the program treatment, the leadership and service-learning course, did impact the students who participated in the program and may benefit from a larger sample size. The written reflection and discussion boards that were part of the course but not included in the study provide a depth and richness of the students' experiences that is worth exploring in the future. |
