The United States Department of Education funded a study described in the recently released report “Measure by Measure: Developing the Whole Child Through the ETM Music Education Model.”

The Education Through Music (ETM) program was originally created in 1991 to improve children’s education in at-risk communities. Music is used as a tool to support the learning and development of all students, including those with special needs.

Using teaching artists and classroom teachers, the schools in the study were able to help boost academic achievement and fostered enjoyment of studying music in a classroom setting, showing measurable progress toward meeting federal and state standards in the arts. The program also fostered skills such as being able to pay attention and focus.

Linda Thompson, associate professor of music education at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, offers the following ideas about the “Measure by Measure” report:

"This program underscores children’s desires to experience music and the powerful impact these musical experiences can have on their lives. This in turn should spur us to strengthen and increase advocacy efforts for all schools to have sequential, developmentally appropriate music education programs, taught by qualified music educators. With a certified music educator in each school, the music contributions of classroom teachers, teaching artists, and programs such as ETM can be enhanced as they serve as creative extensions of the central music curriculum."

Read the complete Education Through Music study.

Resource:  MENC position paper on non-educator performers in the music classroom 
 

MENC member Linda Thompson is an associate professor of music education at Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee.

—Ella Wilcox, May 13, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education (www.menc.org)