student engagement, and positive school climate including behavior? The Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools published the Prelude Report: Music Makes Us Baseline Research Report which provides exactly this type of information on a district wide level. It may be worth reviewing their findings which are available at: http://bit.ly/2BaselineResearch. In addition, you want to get a sense of the percentage of students who are actively engaged in music and arts education at your school and begin thinking about how that percentage might be increased to address the needs of students not currently served.


Finally, visit the website of your state Department of Education and search for ESSA Consolidated State Plan. Read through it in detail to see if music and arts education have been included. If not, consider engaging your state music education advocacy group or music education association to participate in efforts to include music and the arts in the Plan. NAfME has provided a formatted sample of how music and arts education can be included in the Consolidated State Plan. That document, along with many others, is available on the NAfME website at http://www.nafme.org/advocacy/essa.


How to become part of the process— the four R’s:


1. REACH OUT and get involved in your state and/or local music and arts coalition or advocacy group. Offer your commitment and service. The NAMM Foundation provides a variety of advocacy resources online at nammfoundation.org. 2. REINFORCE that music is designated as part of a well-rounded education, not only within ESSA, but also within your State Plan 3. REMIND state, district and community leaders as well as other music and arts education stakeholders (parents, administrators, colleagues, community businesses) about the benefits of music and arts education and what it means for students and communities. Provide supportive data. 4. REQUEST that music education be included in your district’s Well-Rounded Education needs assessment and possible funding under Title IV. Also, be sure to request that a well-rounded education be


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addressed, including music, as part of your district’s Title I plan.


There are numerous resources available to assist arts educators in learning more about ESSA and its impact for music and arts education. It is highly recommended that music and arts educators review these online resources and download them to share with colleagues (department meetings, emails to colleagues), parents (parent nights, PTA meetings, booster meetings) and administrators (planning meetings with supervisors). Some of the most helpful resources include:


1. NAfME: Everything ESSA site which may be accessed at: http://4wrd.it/EVERYTHINGESSA


2. Yamaha: The Music Teacher’s Guide to ESSA, which may be accessed at: http://4wrd.it/YAMAHASUPPORTED


3. The NAMM Foundation’s recently released brochure, Music is a Part of a Well- Rounded Education: What parents need to know about music education and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Federal Education Law. Complimentary copies (packets of 50 each to share with parents) are available to order at: http://4wrd.it/ESSAPARENTBROCHU RE


4. SBO: How to Use Advocacy Stats to your Best Advantage: Using Music Education Data as Indicators of a Positive School Climate by Marcia Neel at: http://4wrd.it/SBO_Marcia


5. SBO: In the Trenches: The Every Student Succeeds Act and What’s in it for You! (But Only if You Act!) by Bob Morrison at: http://4wrd.it/ESSAINTHETRENCHES


6. Meet Title I Goals Using the Arts at: http://4wrd.it/2TITLEIARTS


7. Using Title I funds to support music and arts education in Arizona at: http://www.arizonatitle1arts.org


NOW IS THE TIME to become engaged and to engage others. With the passage of ESSA and the eventual passage of your State Plan, music and arts educators and


advocates have been provided with an opportunity to speak up about the value of music and arts education. The more that we can advocate for music and the arts as part of a well-rounded education within our own districts and schools, as well as providing documented support for how Title I funds can be used for music and arts education, the better the chance that more students will have increased access to the many benefits that an education in music and the arts will provide.


The author, Marcia Neel is the Senior Director of Education for the Band and Orchestral division of Yamaha Corporation of America. She also serves as the Education Advisor to the Music Achievement Council, is also President of Music Education Consultants, Inc. and was the former Coordinator of Secondary Fine Arts for the Clark County School District headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The author would like to thank Mary Luehrsen, Executive Director of the NAMM Foundation, and Lynn Tuttle, Director of Content and Policy for the National Association for Music Education, for their extensive and comprehensive contributions in the preparation of this article. Luehrsen is NAMM’s chief strategist for education policy and music education advocacy. Tuttle currently serves as the AMEA Advocacy Chair and was the Director of Arts Education at the Arizona Department of Education from 2003-2015.


May/June 2017


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