|
The Sound of Silence
A Message from the Chairman
The Music for All Foundation has embarked on a multi-year effort to find quantifiable data regarding access and participation in music and arts education programs in public schools and communities across the United States. This effort has been a difficult task since, among the fifty states and their reporting local educational agencies, there is a lack of an agreed upon definition for calculating and reporting student enrollment in arts education coursework. Surprisingly, most states do not measure or report student enrollment in arts education coursework at one or more grade levels. As a result, when the arts education community is confronted with the question "How many programs have been added or eliminated?" we rarely had reliable data to provide the answer.
Prior to the development of computer technology for storing and retrieving school site information, obtaining reliable data regarding the state of music and arts education was limited. Even now, many local school systems do not measure or report student participation for all music or arts discipline courses. In many larger school districts, it is difficult to determine basic information regarding student enrollment in arts education courses, offerings on a school-to-school basis, or any comparable data.
Because of the overall lack of reliable data, the Board of Trustees of the Music for All Foundation is initiating a state by state review and analysis of course enrollment figures and statistical data to clarify and help shape our understanding of the nature of instruction offered and the level of student participation in public school music and arts education programs. In doing so, a more complete picture for percentage of students enrolled in music and arts programs and the number of qualified teachers can be identified with some degree of consistency. This is an effort to identify access and equity of music and arts programs for all students.
The Sound Of Silence: The Unprecedented Decline Of Music Education In California Public Schools is the first in a series of reports being developed by Music for All Foundation. This report elicits several important questions. We did not attempt to answer them here though we do try to illuminate some potential explanations. While we would have preferred to delve into the questions this report generates, the significance of the disturbing statistical trends contained within this document makes it imperative we inform the broader community as quickly as possible. By releasing this stark news now, we firmly believe there is time to stop this decline, reverse this trend, and prevent the permanent loss of music education programs in California's public schools. It is through the active process of exploring the questions raised here that solutions will come to light and proactive steps may be taken to address these findings.
It is our hope that this report will also serve as a catalyst for other states to begin to gather and measure data regarding music and arts education programs, student participation, and qualified teachers so we may have a true sense of the status and level of, and access our children actually have to, music and arts education in our public schools nationwide.
Robert B. Morrison
Chairman and C.E.O.
Music for All Foundation
|
|