SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1525176
This article is part of the Research TopicAlong the Path to Recovery: Supporting Student Learning Motivation, Engagement and Development in Post-Pandemic Higher EducationView all 15 articles
A Meta-Analysis of Community Engaged Learning and Thriving in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- New Jersey City University, Jersey City, United States
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Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) is recognized for its positive impact on student development in higher education. This meta-analysis examined the effects of CEL on academic, personal, social, and citizenship outcomes among college students. Studies were identified through PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and ERIC, and were included if they met the following criteria: peer-reviewed English-language publications from 2017 to 2024, alignment with service-learning definitions, inclusion of a control group, and sufficient data to calculate effect sizes. Random-effects models were used to estimate Hedges’s g, a standardized measure of effect size, for each outcome domain. Our results showed that CEL had a statistically significant, small to medium effect on academic outcomes (Hedges’s g = 0.344, 95% CI [0.190, 0.497], p < 0.001) and social outcomes (Hedges’s g = 0.371, 95% CI [0.167, 0.575], p < 0.001). The effect on citizenship outcomes was small but significant (Hedges’s g = 0.220, 95% CI [0.096, 0.344], p = 0.001). For personal outcomes, the effect was moderate (Hedges’s g = 0.694, 95% CI [-0.089, 1.477]) but not statistically significant (p = 0.082). The substantial variability observed across studies suggests that differences in CEL implementation, program focus, and student populations may influence outcomes. Overall, our findings highlight CEL as an impactful pedagogy that contributes to academic success, personal growth, and civic engagement. Further research may explore the long-term impacts of CEL and identify specific program components that enhance its effectiveness.
Keywords: community engaged learning, Service learning, Meta-analysis, higher education, Academic success
Received: 08 Nov 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guanlao, Pax, Wei and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wei Zhang, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, United States
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