Service learning (SL) is a teaching method that integrates service to the community with classroom curriculum and provides a hands-on approach to mastering subject material while fostering civic responsibility. Through funds from the Corporation for National Service (CNS), nearly every state has resources and some level of SL programming. Although practitioners have long held SL in high regard, policymakers have generally been slower in recognizing its benefits. As of December 2000, 23 states had no mention of SL in any state policy. Most of those states were receiving funds from the CNS and using those funds to implement programs through their state department of education. At least eight states had proposed legislation related to SL in the 2000 legislative session. As of 2000, only 16 states mentioned SL in statues, and 23 mentioned it in their state code or regulations. Only six states included SL in their state education standards, and six had authorized funding appropriates and the creation of SL activities and programs. (A 19-page table detailing the following items for each of the 50 states and U.S. territories is appended: treatment of SL in the state constitution, statutes, and/or codes/regulations; state board of education regulation and funding of SL; and existing SL programs.) (MN)