Service-learning is increasingly recognized as a valuable addition to teacher preparation programs (Donahue, 1999; Erikson & Anderson, 1997). In 1993, for example, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development recommended that teacher education programs introduce teaching candidates to service-learning (Anderson, 2000). A recent survey by the National Service Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (NSLTEP) revealed that service-learning has been adopted by more than 200 teacher education programs nationwide. Proponents of service-learning in teacher education argue that it can strengthen several teacher dispositions crucial to effective teaching, such as professional commitment and sensitivity to diversity (Boyle-Baise, 1998; Green, Dalton & Wilson, 1994; Vadeboncouer, Rahm, Aguilera, & LeCompte, 1995). Additionally, Education students who participate in service-learning are expected to more readily adapt it to their own teaching (Wade et al., 1999), a significant aim, given recent evidence on service-learning's effectiveness for K-12 students' academic and social development (Melchior, 1998). In the present study, we sought to test claims about service-learning's effects on preservice teachers. Specifically, we examined connections between participation in service-learning and the following preservice teacher development areas: teaching efficacy, commitment to teaching, service ethic of teaching, accepting diversity, intent to personally engage in community service in the future, and intent to utilize service-learning in future teaching. Based on research evidence that the quality of the service-learning experience can influence student outcomes (Astin, Ikeda, Vogelgesang & Yee, 2000; Conrad & Hedin, 1982; Eyler & Giles, 1999), an additional goal of this study was to examine the aspects of the service-learning experience's moderating influence on the dependent variables. In the following section, we explain the study outcomes in greater detail.
