government relations ESSA – What It Means for Music
Education in Wisconsin Brad Schneider, WMEA State Chair, Government Relations
In December of 2015, President Obama signed into law a reauthoriza- tion of the Elemen- tary and Secondary Education Act first authorized by Presi- dent Johnson in 1965. This new law
– the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaces the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While NCLB focused on aca- demic success narrowly defined by reading and math assessments, ESSA emphasizes the need for a WELL-ROUNDED educa- tion with music clearly listed as one of the key areas.
Highlights of Music Education Opportunities in ESSA • 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 de- fined 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 pro- vide a well-rounded education, including music and address any deficiencies using federal funds.
• Flexibility of Title I Funds to Support a Well-Rounded Educa- tion: All Title I programs, both school-wide and targeted, are now
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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 sup- porting a well-rounded education.
• Flexible Accountability Systems: States must now include multiple progress measures in assessing school performance, which can in- clude such music education-friend- ly measures as student engagement, parental engagement and school culture/climate.
• Protection From “Pull Outs:” The new ESSA discourages remov- ing students from the classroom, including music and arts, for reme- dial instruction.
Our National Association for Music Education (NAfME) maintains numerous resources to assist our members in learning about the provisions in ESSA and more importantly, how to maintain a dialogue with our state decision makers who may not know very much about the law. The bullet points above are from NAfME. Members can visit the following sites to find out more:
http://www.nafme.org/take-action/ele- mentary-and-secondary-education-act- esea-updates/
http://www.nafme.org/wp-content/ files/2015/11/ESEA-Implementation-and- Music-Education-Opportunities-Abound- FINAL.pdf
ESSA affords great flexibility in how it will be implemented state to state. In re- sponse to this, Wisconsin Advocates for
“…ESSA emphasizes the need for a WELL-ROUNDED education with music clearly listed as one of the key areas.”
Music Education (WAME – the advocacy group of WMEA) and the National As- sociation of Music Merchants (NAMM) coordinated a ‘Days of Action’ in June. Members contacted state senators and rep- resentatives to open a dialogue with them about the importance of the new law and how music plays a vital role in a WELL- ROUNDED education for every child in Wisconsin. It was interesting to note that many of our state legislators were unaware of our state’s role in the implementation of ESSA. In contrast, the Wisconsin DPI has already begun listening sessions on the new law.
Later in the June, a Wisconsin delegation led by WMEA President Lynn Seidl trav- eled to Washington D.C. for the National Assembly of NAfME. During that week they met with staff of Senators Baldwin and Johnson and five of our eight U.S. representatives to discuss funding alloca- tions for ESSA.
The November Election
Though the presidential race has garnered the lion’s share of the media coverage, it is important to remember that our state senators and assembly representatives craft the education policy for our state.
Continued on page 26 September 2016
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