This report shares findings from research that examined service learning, a teaching strategy that combines service to the community with classroom curriculum in K-12 schools. The research focused on how service learning was relevant to schools. The results show that many U.S. youth feel alienated from both their schoolwork and from traditional forms of civic activities, though that disengagement is neither universal nor inevitable. Service learning is a proven method of instruction that teachers in thousands of U.S. schools nationwide have successfully employed to increase student motivation for learning and promote traditional academic goals. Service learning also promotes the broader goals of schooling such as the teaching of citizenship. The paper presents profiles of schools with successful service learning programs, and it offers four recommendations: reclaiming the public purpose of education; increasing policy, program, and financial supports for service learning in K-12 education; developing a comprehensive system of professional development regarding service learning; and providing leadership roles for youth in all aspects of service learning. (Contains 56 endnotes and 5 appendixes.) (SM)