A Message from the NAfME North Central Division President Leyla Sanyer, Wisconsin
There is no doubt that this has been a very exciting year for music educators and their students.
In December,
2015, the updated ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Ed- ucation Act) know as ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Obama. We are all indebted to our NAfME leaders and friends in Reston, Virginia; Mike Blakeslee, Chris Woodside, Lynn Tuttle and Ronny Lau for keeping the focus on music and it’s central connection to learning. NAfME President Denese Odegaard is leading the charge for state standards adoption.
Many of our North Central members have participated in advocacy at the state and national level. Now it is up to us in the divisions and states to join with NAfME leadership to assure that music education is maintained and funded as a key part of a well-rounded education for every Amer- ican child. It also means the end of No Child Left Behind and the beginning of a new era for standards, less testing, focus on the whole child and, hopefully, more autonomy in the classroom for music educators.
As my predecessor Lance Nielsen (Nebraska) has stated, “The North Central NAfME Division Board consists of the presidents of the ten states within our division along with input from executive state leaders, president-elects, and immediate past presidents. This board is essentially an advisory board in which topics of concern, innovative ideas, and partnerships are shared. We are also able to bring back to the National Leadership the ideas that are working in the states and division to influence direction for music education across the country.”
The North Central Division will continue to discuss ideas about inclusion and diversity, teacher shortages, standards adoption, advocacy and member communication.
As
president of the North Central Division, I look forward to visiting your state conferences to speak, clinic and learn from you! This year I will be in Indiana, Iowa, Minne- sota, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin speaking at con- ferences.
Brava and Bravo to all of you for your work in the class- room and community. Here are some of the initiatives going on now in the ten member states:
Iowa IMEA (
https://www.iamea.org/) is continuing to work on getting state standards in music education through the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education. The leadership is also working on pairing new teachers with retired teachers as a mentoring goal. Along with the Alliance, IMEA is pro- moting a mentoring grant from the government. They are also working to increase area grants for education work- shops. The state music conference is set for November 17-19, 2016 in Ames on the UI campus.
Indiana
The Indiana Music Educators Association (http://imea-
music.org/) budget is in the black this year and funds are being directed toward more professional development for state music teachers. Leaders are also planning more ad- vocacy work with connections to the state SMTE, State Superintendent and Arts Coordinator. This year they plan to make visits to the State House. The state professional music education conference is happening on January 12- 14, 2017 in Fort Wayne.
Illinois
Illinois continues to work on their social media and com- munication strengths to reach members. Audition soft- ware is being revamped and leadership is starting online training for volunteers and mentors to reach outlying ar- eas.
Diversity and equity are strong topics of concern.
The Illinois State Standards have been adopted based on the National Standards with an eye on implementation in 2018-19. The IMEA (
http://www.ilmea.org/) is running their annual conference from January 25-18, 2017 in Peo- ria.
Michigan Teachers in Michigan are setting up regional choral events for elementary students. The most important focus in the MMEA (
http://mmeamichigan.org/) this year will contin- ue to be the Advocacy Day. In looking at equity and di- versity, state music ed leaders are looking at certification and legislation, as well as dividing the state into “pods” to cover more ground in their work. They are working on music education requirements for all children. The pro- fessional music education conference will take place on January 19-21, 2017.
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