The National Association for Music Education is very happy with the new Every Student Succeeds Act. For the first time in anyone’s memory, the act specifically refers to music and art as important subjects.
Here are two examples of what the music educators love:
Title I: Improving Basic Programs Operated by State and Local Educational Agencies
o Section 1008: Schoolwide Programs (Schoolwide Program Plan): Plans which may be executed via a combination of federal, state and local funds, in efforts to improve the overall educational program of a school meeting the appropriate threshold of disadvantaged students to become eligible. Strategies should seek to strengthen academic programs, increase the amount and quality of learning time, and provide a WELL-ROUNDED education (music, arts). (pg. 164)
o Section 1009: Targeted Assistance Schools (Targeted Assistance School Program): Aimed at assisting schools and Local Educational Agencies with support in ensuring that all students served meet the State’s challenging student academic achievement standards in subjects as determined by the State. Criteria includes the potential to provide programs, activities and courses necessary to ensure a WELL-ROUNDED education (music, arts). (pg. 169)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Under NCLB, the music/arts were listed as Core Academic subjects. We know how meaningful that was.
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Not just music educators are happy, but music educators certainly have a lot of savvy on getting the word out to members of their association(s) and others in ways that help them tap funds.
The latest national arts standards were generated in support of music, dance, theater, the visual arts, and media arts. You do not see that specificity in ESSA.
Speculation: Many of these arts groups will be competing for the same pools of funds. In addition there will probably be a race to see who initiates the grant applications. Many will probably come from state and local arts councils and community arts organizations accustomed to seeking funds for grants-based programs (many also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts or Institute of Museum Services) I think the burden of applying will be harder for schools and school districts, because many will be loaded with many other duties from ESSA. The law is written so that these two sets of interested parties are supposed to cooperate in any funded program.
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I am a part of NAfME and I am not happy with it at all. I find the NAfME viewpoint to be short sighted-who is going to care about public school music programs if public education is being dismantled in the first place.
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It’s a whole package, and you are right. You cannot put a golden ring inside a rotting cardboard box and expect everything to be held in place . . . .
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Absolutely on target with this brief comment.
Gates is supporting Relay Graduate School of Education and four other efforts to reduce teacher preparation in all subjects to “skill sets” that predict his notion of “effective teaching” as forever-rising test scores, achieved by teaching to the test…
And for these grants, all of the “providers” of teacher education are expected to focus on the Common Core.
States and universities are buying into this one size fits all concept of teacher education free of any perspectives that might disrupt the ideology. ESSA “academies” of teacher preparation authorize and reward TFA and sham operations like Relay Graduate School.
Arts education is not the only subject at risk.
Public education and semblance of teacher autonomy is being tanked and aided by Congress, and the go along to get along once upon a time professionals in education.
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The American Library Association (ALA) and its sub group, American Association of School Librarians (AASL) like the explicit references to school library media specialists and for them to be included in professional development.
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Beware of ESSA “gifts”!! Including the Arts in the ESSA is like using mousetrap bait to lure in believers! It is a means of control to strategize leaving no stone unturned. The Arts is already being groomed for the testing industry when the national “voluntary” common core standards were created. States do not have to reject “corporate ed reform” and there are many a governor who are “edupreneurs… look no further than the former Governor Bush! Inevitably, there will be some unforeseen linkage of State and Federal that ensures that art just like math and English becomes controlled under ESSA. Call me a skeptic but who in their right mind shouldn’t be these days!
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Agreed. I’ve always been skeptical of the possibility that the testing specter will be entering the arts area in order to “legitimize” them.
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I cannot talk to my fellow school librarians any longer. It’s very depressing. As edharris said – ALA and AASL are very happy and feel victorious. Boggles the mind. Of course, we are the first to be fired when there’s a budget issue, and in California we are funded 51st.
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To drleopold314;
Thank you for your accurate expression in “”who is going to care about public school music programs if public education is being dismantled in the first place.””
Yes, it is very sad that there are many “”naive”” educators who easily believe what they read with assumption. In the same vein, there are many “”naive”” politicians and voters who always assume their thinking in THOSE DOUBLE-MEANING WORDS, SO THAT CROOKED CON ARTISTS CAN PLAY A TRICK in rules and regulations in legal system.
What is so contradict with enforcement of INVALID TESTING SCHEME in order to steal public tax fund from public education to give freely to
1) PRIVATE OWNERS OF MANY CHARTER SCHOOL CHAINS
2) MONOPOLY PRIVATE TESTING MATERIAL/TEXT BOOKS PUBLISHING COMPANY
3) MONOPOLY PRIVATE COMPUTER SOFTWARE + HARDWARE COMPANY.
In short, educators and commoners know exactly what is good for them like basic recess for children, basic tenure for teaching seniority, basic track and field for K-12, basic music program and literacy program build-in field trips and concerts, basic ratio teacher and pupil 1/15 to max 1/25, and the final basic STEM with adequate resources for both theories and practical labs. Back2basic
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Received thin an email from NafME this morning:
Dear Music Educator,
It’s a new day for music education. For the first time ever, music has been recognized as a stand-alone subject in the definition of a Well-Rounded Education in a new federal education law.
Today, the United States Senate passed the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA) [S. 1177] by a final vote count of 85 to 12, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was reauthorized. With the President’s signature, hopefully in the days to come, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will be no more.
We want to thank our members and all music education advocates for sending more than 20,000 letters to Congress. Your voice contributed to this monumental advancement for music education.
Here are the most important top line takeaways from the new bill:
A New and Clear Intent to Support Our Nation’s Schools Through a Well-Rounded Education: This is a sea change from NCLB, which focused heavily on the academic success of students narrowly defined as reading and math.
Enumeration of Music as a Well-Rounded Subject: Replacing the Core Academic Subject language from NCLB, this language clearly articulates that music should be a part of every child’s education, no matter their personal circumstance.
Requirements for Well-Rounded Education: Schools will now be able to assess their ability to provide a well-rounded education, including music, and address any deficiencies using federal funds.
Flexibility of Title I funds to support a well-rounded education. All Title I programs, both school-wide and targeted, are now available to provide supplemental funds for a well-rounded education, including music.
More Professional Development for Music Educators: Funds from Titles I, II and IV of ESSA, may support professional development for music educators as part of supporting a well-rounded education.
Flexible Accountability Systems: States must now include multiple progress measures in assessing school performance, which can include such music education-friendly measures as student engagement, parental engagement and school culture/climate.
Protection from “Pull Outs”: The new ESSA discourages removing students from the classroom, including music and arts, for remedial instruction.
To learn more about the bill, click here.
Please check out our new ESSA Implementation Toolkit. The toolkit is the first of its kind, and music educators will simply not find this level of comprehensive guidance for ESSA implementation anywhere else.
Passing this law with music listed as a stand-alone subject simply kicks open the door of opportunity to ensuring music’s place in every school — and leading in the decision-making for what that looks like.
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“Flexible Accountability Systems: States must now include multiple progress measures in assessing school performance, which can include such music education-friendly measures as student engagement, parental engagement and school culture/climate.”
Oh joy! Now we can development “music education friendly” assessments! Just what we need!
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“More Professional Development for Music Educators: Funds from Titles I, II and IV of ESSA, MAY support professional development for music educators as part of supporting a well-rounded education.” (Caps are mine)
PD for music educators was certainly permitted with Title II money under NCLB. Many of us attended Inservice Conferences and had substitutes with that money. Even district training in new technology for teaching music happened.
Even part of Title 1 money could have been used for music, if it was a researched intervention for reading/ math.
What I fear, with this emphasis of PD for arts teachers, is losing the integrity of each specific art discipline, what gives uniqueness to appropriate educational experience, in order to retrain these teachers to become Arts Integration Specialists. This title now exists in some places to help the classroom teachers enrich their lessons. Many classroom teachers no longer have a background to do this unaided, due to two generations of arts cuts.
Cross curricular has been part of music Ed frameworks for a very long time, but it has not been the major part. If arts teachers will not convert, Arts integration specialists can be trained via some new alternative schools which are authorized under this legislation- and all this can be counted as exposure to the arts.
I would love to see excellent arts education mandated, but I just don’t see it on the near future. I would love to be wrong.
The subject of testing in the arts might bring about some needed thinking about appropriate assessment and evaluation. That I would welcome.
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drleopold314 here,
It makes me wonder how many people who are key players in the politics of corporate reform agendas have wormed their way into executive positions into teaching organizations such as NAfME to undermine public education and unions. That is the onlly POSSIBLE reason I can imagine the NAfME would be pushing this – I know that I was not asked as a lowly due paying member about my opinion on the issue. It might be time for the NAfME to remember who they represent and if they cannot, maybe they will remember when the members stop paying dues and the coffers get low.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/10/us-kentucky-pensions-idUSKBN0TT03120151210#Ix5o4CJuKS87egrL.97
MORE BAD NEWS FOR KENTUCKY TEACHERS.
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It’s a nice sentiment. NAfME did a good job getting members to contact Congress. Do I think it will change anything? No. It will be up to the states and local districts. We are fortunate to have music covered fairly well in our district. Yet we have one art teacher and one guidance counselor for 900 students. For us, this will change nothing. We are more interested in it opening the door to getting rid of OTES.
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What are “OTES”?
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OTES: Ohio Teacher Evaluation System
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Diane, there’s been some local Ohio coverage of that Turkish charter issue you covered yesterday. The whole piece is bizarre, but this really stuck out:
“Weaver said the schools employ Turkish men who bring expertise in math and science. Turkey’s students, however, are near the bottom while U.S. students are near the top in math and science, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment.”
Can you imagine if a US public school said they were bringing in “men” from another country because they have “expertise in math and science”? There would be public outrage here if our public school brought in publicly-paid teachers from another country, let alone if it was restricted to “men” because of their (allegedly) superior math and science skills.
It is absolutely amazing what charters get away with. Not a peep out of Ohio politicians. This is all fine and dandy with them, apparently.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ohio-charter-schools-among-network-accused-of-human-trafficking-and-teaching-islam-1.646362?cache=18961415304345%25252525252525252525252525252525252525252fnews%2525252525
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Good to know. It will be interesting to find out how that will be monitored. I question that districts always do what is right.
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I would like to hope this language makes a difference, but what I have seen is several real estate-connected sites tend to highlight the quality of schools and districts based on standardized test scores. It’s a subtle way of communicating to families in the market, “this is a higher socio-economic school/district than that.”
This creates some outside pressure to have schools focus on things that directly help reading/math scores, because otherwise the test scores/ratings from numerical formulas go down, and then maybe housing values go down. I don’t see how there is as much incentive to keep school programs going that don’t directly contribute to raising standardized test scores.
Guess I’m feeling pessimistic at the moment.
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