48 Hour Fundraiser -- Help Support a college scholarship!

“We all act in agreement with who we believe we are. Self image dictates the results we see in every area of our lives.” -- Shawn Brown.

The service learning gap, sometimes referred to as the achievement gap, is defined as the disparity in academic achievement of different social groups (by race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexuality, home language, etc.). These disparities show up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college competition rates, among other success measures. This intersectional problem negatively affects diverse and often under-resourced communities. These struggles follow students throughout their entire education experiences.

The service-learning gap still exists today. The 2022 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress reported staggering academic achievement discrepancies in language arts and math between Asian, White, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latino-identifying groups. See figure 1 (1).

Proposed explanations for the gap include systemic racism, socioeconomic status, lack of parent involvement, and student behavior in the classroom. However, proposed solutions such as early literacy training, resources for students and teachers, and professional development have failed to close the service-learning gap for over 57 years.

In short, providing resources for students is not enough. Per Shawn Brown, closing the service-learning gap involves students accepting those resources because they see them as a way to a better future they’ve imagined for themselves.” Self image has everything to do with the service learning gap. Self image dictates how students view themselves in relation to academics.

MAGIS Service Organization is raising money for a financial aid package that will be given to a student at Verbum Dei High School. Verbum Dei serves students in the Watts area that normally wouldn't have gone to college and gives them a chance to pursue higher education.

In keeping with years past, ‘48-Hour Fundraiser’ will focus on issues surrounding the service-learning Gap.

With this fundraiser, our hope is to not only raise money for this financial aid package, but to raise awareness and discuss ways in which we, as an LMU community, can bridge the gap between these performance disparities and provide opportunities for under-resourced students to succeed academically and create a brighter futures for themselves. Together we can build bridges and create futures.

It should be noted that Magis’s research for and planning of 48 Hour Fundraiser takes into account the notion of colonization that can be associated with service learning. Following Fr. Greg Boyle’s notion of radical kinship, Magis approaches dialogues regarding the service leaning gap through an asset based approach; an epistemology which takes into account the existing strength of communities instead of framing minoritized groups as “lacking” or “in need of being saved from themselves (2)

References:

(1) The Achievement Gap: The Solution | Shawn Brown | TEDxSDSU. Directed by Shawn Brown, TEDx Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POwMTijNgPg.

(2) Santiago-Ortiz, Aurora. (2018). From Critical to Decolonizing Service-Learning: Limits and Possibilities to Social Justice-based Approaches to Community Service Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. 25. 10.3998/mjcsloa.3239521.0025.104.