2026

This report shares findings from the Utah Education Policy Center's 2025–2026 evaluation of Volunteer for Good, a four-year pilot program (2024–2028) developed by the Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism (UServeUtah). The program promotes volunteerism and seeks to strengthen high school students' well-being, civic engagement, and academic and social success. Operating in five Local Education Agencies (Garfield County, Granite, Nebo, and Sevier School Districts, and Mountain Heights Academy), the Year 2 evaluation summarizes key implementation metrics; highlights facilitators and barriers to implementation; describes how students, educators, and families experienced the program; and examines how participation relates to students' academic, social, mental well-being, and civic outcomes.

This study, which was conducted as part of a research practice partnership with the USBE, compares the retention and end-of-year standardized assessment results of newly licensed teachers from the Alternate Pathway to Professional Educator License - Special Education (APPEL-SpEd) pathway to those of newly licensed teachers from traditional university special education programs. Our results indicate no evidence of differences between teachers coming from these two pathways.