Page 5 of 31, showing 20 records out of 602 total, starting on record 81, ending on 100

Keeping Elementary Music Is a Good Fiscal Move

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“Many school board members assume that eliminating elementary music education programs will ease present day budget crunches, as well as longer-term budgetary constraints, with little detrimental effect on student participation in music in the upper grade levels.Nothing could be further from the truth.We already know the intrinsic value of music education for students … maintaining strong elementary music education programs offers long-term fiscal value as well.”

Eliminating 5th Grade Music Greatly Reduces Secondary Programs

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“Extensive national case studies indicate that when the grade 5 elementary instrumental and/or choral feeder system is eliminated, the subsequent decline in student participation at the secondary level will be a minimum of 65%. Within four years this decline in participation is incurred at the high school level.”

A Historical Element of Humanity

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“Music is unique to all cultures of our planet. It has been integral in all cultures throughout history. Eliminating music from our education system closes a door to the most historical element of humanity to all our students!”- Kelly B., Montana

Imagine a Day without Music

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“As a band director for 19 years, I could not imagine a day without music. If you think it's not important, try and go through a day without hearing music. It might be possible, but your brain will pull up some tune and you will be singing before the end of the day. Where would we all be without our elementary music teachers, choir directors, and band directors?”- Stephen P. Alabama

Music: A Lifesaving Force in Auschwitz

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“Music touches us in the least expected ways. My father's singing helped keep him alive in Auschwitz (Polish, Catholic). Music extends feelings and emotions and can make our souls soar! How is it not a part of our lives?”- Joan G., Indiana

Music Is Not Just a School Subject

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

"Music is not only a school subject. Music is an art that gives students an oppurtunity to express themselves and develop a talent that will stay with them throughout the rest of their lives. Music Education, as well as other forms of art, is just as crucial to a child's learning as other core subjects, and therefore it is neccessary that the arts are incorporated into the core curriculum of students in the United States."- Kaitlyn B., Pennsylvania

The Seeds of Music Need to be Planted Early

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

“I am retiring after 22 years of teaching music K-12. I have seen several of my students go on to study music education and/or performance. I have seen several others continue singing and performing in college ensembles and community groups. Music is an intrinsic part of our lives, but those seeds need to be planted when children are young. Also, some students are not academically gifted, but come alive in the music room. Please keep music as an integral part of the whole child's life curriculum.”Lynne K., Connecticut

Music Is Integral to Every Student's Education

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

"The arts must be an integral part of every student's education. The performing arts help students to develop self-esteem, self-discipline, self-motivation and cooperation skills necessary for success in life. The performing arts can be a powerful vehicle for motivation and teaching students. Because the performing arts allow students to express themselves in different ways, involvement in dance, drama and music courses is often responsible for keeping them in school. The performing arts are for everyone, not just the talented. Just as society expects competence in mathematics of all students, society should expect competence in the performing arts."

Music: A Chance for Growth, Learning, and Challenge

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

"All children must have the opportunity to grow in music knowledge, skills, and appreciation so as to bring joy and satisfaction to their lives, challenge their minds, stimulate their imaginations, and exalt their spirits."

Arts education helps students achieve educational and personal potential

Added: Dec 15, 2009 - View

The authors followed 23 students (aged 10-26) in a performing arts program in music and dance in the New York City Public Schools. A high percentage of students in the program were from economically disadvantaged circumstances and attended schools with no arts specialist. Over half of them had been labeled at-risk due to poor grades, absences, behavioral or family issues. "The effect of sustained study in an art form on these talented young people provides powerful evidence for the crucial role of arts education in helping students achieve their educational and personal potential."This is one participant's story:Gloria's fourth-grade classmates described her as tough, her teachers, as a bully with low self-esteem and an aggressive attitude. When she began the Arts Connection music program, she had repeated third grade, was in the lowest reading group, and was on the verge of repeating fourth grade.In third grade, Gloria became part of the Arts Connection music program. Her music teacher said, "She could be brutal at times, but I saw an energy for leadership." He gave her responsibilities and leadership roles within the music group, and he purshed her to open up and achieve. In fifth grade, Gloria's academic performance improved dramatically. "She went from the bottom reading group in the fourth grade to the top in grade five," her fourth grade teacher explained. "She seemed to feel better about herself. Somehow she got the message that she was special and a good person. I honestly don't think this would have happened if it weren't for the music program."Gloria also begin to have a group of friends for the first time in her life, saying that when a girl she disliked started ArtsConnection with her, they became friends because of the common link with music.As her talent developed, Gloria was placed in more demanding situations. She became part of the student performing ensemble, which performed at school, in the community, around the city, and at President Clinton's 1992 Inauguration.Gloria's grades continued to improve during intermediate school, where she was placed in the top academic classes, was consistently on the honor roll, and was valedictorian of her intermediate school class. She went on to study fashion and music at a New York City arts magnet high school.

Arts Competencies and Other Disciplines

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

Studying over 2000 public school students in grades 4-8, a group of researchers from Teachers College Columbia University found significant relationships between rich in-school arts programs and creative, cognitive, and personal competencies needed for academic sucess.They found, "The appearance of arts competencies in other disciplines was found in contexts where, for example:There was a need for pupils to figure out or elaborate on ideas on their own;There was a need to structure and organize thinking in light of different kinds of experiences;Knowledge needed to be tested or demonstrated in new and original ways; and Learning involved task persistence, ownership, empathy,and collaboration wit others.""In subjects such as science, mathematics, and language, invitations to accommodate conflicting ideas, to forumlate new and better ways of representing thoughts, and to take risks and leaps call forth a complex of cognitive and creative capacities. These capacities are typical of arts learning. Indeed, what is particuarly interesting about this grouping of responses is that it reveals a rich interweaving of intuitive, practical, and logical forms of thought at work advancing the range and depth of children's thinking. This kind of mix of intuitive and logical thinking is, or course, highly typical of most creative artists, scientists, and thinkers in general. At a more mundane level, it also characterizes how we deal with the challenges of everyday living!"

Arts Involvement and School Climate

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

Studying over 2000 public school students in grades 4-8, a group of researchers from Teachers College Columbia University found significant relationships between rich in-school arts programs and creative, cognitive, and personal competencies needed for academic sucess. They found,"Schools with strong arts programs had supportive administrators who played a central role in ensuring the continuity and depth of provision. They encouraged teachers to take risks, learn new skills, and broaden their curriculum.""Children in arts-rich schools are more likely than children in low-arts schools to have good rapport with their teachers.""Teachers in arts-rich schools demonstrate more interest in their work and are more likely to become involved in professional development experiences. These teachers work in schools that favor change and experimentation. They also are more likely to be innovative in their teaching."Study results were more firmly tied to rich arts provision than to high economic status.

Studying the arts and self-perception

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

Studying over 2000 public school students in grades 4-8, a group of researchers from Teachers College Columbia University found significant relationships between rich in-school arts programs and creative, cognitive, and personal competencies needed for academic sucess. They found"High-arts youngsters were far more likely than their low-arts counterparts to think of themselves as competent in academics.""They were also far more likely to believe that they did well in school in general, particularly in language and mathematics.""Youngsters exposed to strong arts education acquire a sense of confidence in themselves that radiates beyond the studios and performance spaces."

Rich In-School Arts Programs lead to creative, cognitive, and personal competencies

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

Studying over 2000 public school students in grades 4-8, a group of researchers from Teachers College Columbia University found significant relationships between rich in-school arts programs and creative, cognitive, and personal competencies needed for academic sucess. They foundStudents in high-arts groups performed better than those in low-arts groups on "measures of creativity, fluency, originality, elaboration and resistance to closure.""Pupils in arts-intensive settings were also strong in their abilities to express thoughts and ideas, exercise their imaginations and take risks in learning.""Students in high-arts schools were "described by their teachers as more cooperative and willing to display their learning publicly.""In schools with high-arts provision, these competencies also emerged in other subject areas."Teachers of non-arts subjects commented on "abilities such as thinking creatively and flexibly, imagining ideas and problems from different perspectives, taking imaginative leaps, and layering one thought upon another as part of a process of problem solving.""In arts-rich schools, pupils are also seen by their teachers as curious, able to express ideas and feelings in individual ways, and not afraid to display their learning before their teachers, peers, and parents." The study also found that arts add the kind of richness and depth to learning and instruction that is critical to healthy development only in schools wherearts provision is rich and continuous, administrators are supportive,teachers are enlightened"In the arts, whether visual, music, dance, or drama, the ability to explore myriad ideas; envision and try out unusual and personal responses; consider objects, ideas, and experiences in detail; and be willing to keep thoughts open long enough to take imaginative leaps, are all important.""Schools should develop and offer...a critical mass of arts subjects in visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Within this provision young people must be allowed to study as fully as possible across the arts disciplies. Our results show very clearly that the habits of mind and personal dispositions needed for acedemic success were nurtured in high-arts schools where young people had pursued several arts over a duration of time." "There was a negative correlation between schools with a paucity of arts instruction and all cognitive and personal dimensions of our study. Thus schools interested in nurturing complex minds should provide a critical mass of arts instruction over the duration of young peoples' school lives."

Principal learns value of arts

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

"You are talking to someone who had very little to do with the arts before I came here. This has changed me enormously. I have an appreciation for the arts that I never had before. I have seen youngsters come through here who perhaps weren't as motivated, and I have seen them take off and fly because we pulled them into an art and opened up new avenues. I couldn't work anymore in a school that wasn't totally immersed in the arts." --Middle School Principal (p. 36)

Excellent Education Includes the Arts

Added: Dec 14, 2009 - View

"We are convinced that excellence in education is possible only with the full inclusion of the arts. An education that encompasses and respects the wonderful diversity of people and cultures in the nation is possible only when it includes the arts."

Access to arts is inequitably distributed in society

Added: Dec 11, 2009 - View

"Access to the arts is inequitably distributed in our society. Students from poor and less educated families are much more likely to record low levels of participation in the arts during the middle and high school years; affluent youngsters are much more likely to show high, rather than low engagement in the arts. If our analysis is reasonable, the arts do matter--not only as worthwile experiences in their own right...but also as instruments of cognitive growth and development and as agents of motivation for school success. In this light, unfair access to the arts for our children brings consequences of major importance to our society."

Students involved in instrumental music show higher levels of math proficiency

Added: Dec 11, 2009 - View

Enlisting the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88) (a panel study that followed more than 25,000 students in American secondary schools for 10 years), these researchers found:"Students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12. This observation holds both generally and for low socio-economic status (SES) students as a subgroup. In addition, absolute differences in measured mathematics proficiency between students consistently involved v. not involved in instrumental music grow significantly over time.Researchers examined the probability that students involved in instrumental music would attain the highest levels of mathematics proficiency on the 12th grade tests used in the NELS:88 study. Analyses were differentiated by family income and education levels (SES):All high SES students do better in mathematics than the average student, regardless of their music involvement.Students concentrating in instrumental music do substantially better in mathematics than those with no involvement in music.Low SES students with high involvement in music do better than the average student at attaining high levels of math proficiency.Twice as many low SES 8th graders in band and/or orchestra scored at high levels in math as did low SES 8th graders with no reported involvement in instrumental music. By 12th grade, the differentials increasingly favored students heavily involved in instrumental music, especially the percentages of students performing at the highest levels.By 12th grade, the high performing gap between low SES, high-music students and the average student had grown to about 33% v. 21%.

Student involvement in the arts brings positive academic and social development

Added: Dec 11, 2009 - View

Enlisting the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88) (a panel study that followed more than 25,000 students in American secondary schools for 10 years), these researchers found "Children engaged in the arts exhibit positive academic developments between 8th and 10th grade as well as between 10th and 12th grade. "The comparative gains for arts-involved youngsters generally become more pronounced over time....These patterns also hold for children from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds."Researchers defined "involvement in the arts" as taking arts-related classes in or out of school as well as involvement and leadership in school activities such as theater, band, orchestra, chorus, dance, and the visual arts."Our analyses found substantial and significant differences in achievement and in important attitudes and behaviors between youth highly involved in the arts on the one hand, and those with little or no arts engagement on the other hand....the achievement differences between high- and low-arts youth were also significant for economically disadvantaged students." The studies looked at academic measures and also at indicators of students' regard for community service and measures of their television watching habits.The results:"Achievement differences favoring youngsters involved in the arts are not simply a matter of parent income and education levels."Consistent involvement in the arts shows increased advantages for arts-rich youngsters over time."The arts serve to broaden access to meaning by offering ways of thinking and ways of representation consistent with the spectrum of intelligences scattered unevenly across our population.""The arts have also shown links to student motivation and engagement in school, attitudes that contribute to academic achievement.""Arts activities also can promote community--advancing shared purpose and team spirit required to perform in an ensemble musical group or dramatic production, or to design and paint an urban mural. With community surely comes empathy and general attachment to the larger values of the school and the adult society which high school students will soon join."There are likely positive peer associations accompanying involvement in the arts: "Students involved in the arts are doing better in school than those who are not.""The relative advantage of involvement in the arts increased appreciably over time. (By 12th grade, a nominal 18 percentage point difference amounted to a 46 percent advantage for the group with high arts involvement.)SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND INVOLVEMENT IN THE ARTSThe probability of having a high level of involvement in the arts is almost twice as high for students from economically advantaged families, and the probability of low involvement in the arts is about twice as high for students from an economically disadvantaged family. The researchers examined achievement differences for low socio-economic status (SES) students:In a manner similar to patterns for all students, the relative advantage for arts-involved youngsters increased over the middle and high school years, especially between grades 10 and 12.

Start Teaching World Music Early

Added: Dec 11, 2009 - View

"The recommendation to start teaching music from world cultures as early as possible seems advisable, given that ethnic awareness emerges at about age four.  Once positive or negative attiudes are formed, they tend to increase with age."