A wide body of literature supports the premise that leadership skills, behaviors, and practices can be developed by a motivated learner. From the adult learner’s perspective, college administrators need to understand the personal and educational needs of individuals returning to public education. Dewey (1938) presented three distinct elements for education that align with service learning: experiential learning, reflection on experiences for learning, and the idea that reciprocal learning adds value to the educational environment. The implementation of leadership development is an intricate and deterring task; though, if institutions are dedicated to examining the abilities, attitudes and habits that are limited to its environment, there are solutions that will support the implementing of leadership development within the institution. This will aid in developing effective and active leaders.

Higher education has been raising its emphasis on service as a way to develop collaborative relationships. A way to effectively incorporate the community in an academically meaningful way is service learning. Service learning is an opportunity to create practical experiences where students are educated and learn to problem solve in the context of their lives and communities. In this quantitative quasi-experimental study, Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory-Self (LPI-S) instrument will be used to measure the executive leadership behaviors of two-year adult learners who are participating in two distinct and unique leadership development programs and a control group of adult learners’ who are non-program participants. By collecting data from the instrument, the researcher will be able to evaluate if participation in service-learning had an effect on adult learners’ executive leadership development compared to adult learners’ who are non-participants.