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CURRICULUM
CONSIDERATIONS FOR DCPS 2009 BUDGET FOR By CHIME
(Community Help In Community Education) I appreciate this opportunity to have input into the 2009
school budget process. My comments concern the curriculum, particularly for
music education, as affected by funding deficiencies in the current and past budgets,
and the priority given to raising NCLB-mandated test scores in reading and math.
These have led to a steady reduction in time and money allocated to music (as
well as other arts) with, as evidence cited later indicates, a negative impact
on academic performance, drop-out and graduation rates, career preparation, and
social responsibility, as well as on personal fulfillment. Inadequacy
of current DCPS music education: The DCPS Director of Music says he is
unable to find out the number of schools with music teachers, or bands this
year, but according to him last year almost 40% of elementary students and over
20% of secondary school students had no music teacher, and our remaining school
bands were handicapped by lack of decent instruments, prepared students, or
allocated school instruction time. Under Mary Levy’s analysis of the current
school budget, there are probably even fewer music teachers this year. Teaching
to the test in reading and math hasn’t worked even in raising those
scores, much less in fulfilling important goals of education. Please Chancellor Rhee—while your
broom is busy cleaning up the buildings, providing text books on time, and
trying to improve the quality of administration and teaching staff—also
put your formidable energy and ability into changing what goes on in the
classrooms to offer the training that students need to qualify for good
careers, to be good citizens, to learn about our cultural heritages, and to
develop their potentials—none of these goals are met by a narrow and
unstimulating curriculum aimed primarily at raising multiple-choice
standardized test scores. You have listened to community input, and know how
strong the pleas are to put music and other arts back into the schools, and to
provide meaningful after-school activities DCPS has complied with NCLB for years by focusing on test
prep, without succeeding in significantly raising the scores. What we have
experienced under this deadening policy has been loss of some of the best
teachers, increased drop-outs and low rates of graduation, and continued high
levels of anti-social behavior. Isn’t it time to try another strategy
that could not only raise test scores by increasing motivation and interest in
learning, but also promote the real goals of education? The
Inter-Am . We
once had good music education in all DC public schools in the days when it was
centrally funded, and our many school bands were the pride of their schools and
the city, as was documented in the exhibition about the history of DC
school bands last year at the Smithsonian’s Some
suggestions for how to do it: 1. Restore centralized budgeting to music education so that every
elementary and middle school, whatever its size, can provide choral and
instrumental instruction, with direction and oversight by a musically-trained Assistant
Superintendant, as used to exist in DCPS before the 1993 decentralization. 2. Extend the school day by at least one hour to give more time for
the arts and PE, and to meet community pleas for more meaningful activities in
the late afternoon. 3. Make use of the DC areas’ wealth of private music
performer-educators as adjunct directors of performing ensembles for
schools, to meet the current shortage of certified instrumental music teachers.
They would not have to be full-time certified teachers, if they otherwise meet
professional qualifications. 4. Enlist the business community—in particular the Nationals
and the developers who have benefited so much from our public funding—in
funding and otherwise supporting the build-up of school bands, orchestras and
choruses. It would be good marketing for them. Please,
Chancellor Rhee, propose and fight for an adequate budget to provide a
first-class education, including first-class music education, for our public
school students. Our elected officials, who claim education is
their number one priority, should exercise their ingenuity in finding the means to pay for it, as they did for
the baseball stadium. It is the best investment we can make. Investing in Early Childhood Education,
as currently planned, provided it is sufficient for proper quality, is great
public policy. But unless it is accompanied by sufficient funding and quality
for the ensuing 12 years of schooling, it is unlikely to have a lasting
impact. Thank
you for your attention. APPENDIX THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Excerpts from the 9 page
report. 1. Introduction Venezuela’s National System of
Youth and Children’s Orchestras (the “System”) is a
pioneering initiative that, for more than 30 years, has provided musical
training to over two million Venezuelan boys and girls ages 3 to 19. The System
is made up of the Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de
Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela [Venezuelan State Foundation for
the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras] (FESNOJIV) (its
centralized management body based in Caracas), 126 community-based centers
located in all the states in the country, and, associated with them, 326 orchestras
and choirs. There are currently 245,353 beneficiaries enrolled in the program,
of whom approximately 67% are from the country’s two poorest social
strata (81% if the medium-low stratum is included).1 The primary individual benefits
attributed to the System include improvements in academic achievement and in
the psychological development of children and young people. Its social benefits
include reducing the school dropout rate and the rate of youth violence. The
System has also included particularly vulnerable groups, such as the disabled:
the 2. Social development through music
in The System. The social
development model based on music education was developed in Community-based centers. The 126 community-based centers currently operating are the System’s basic units. Based on FESNOJIV’s planning and guidelines, the centers are responsible for executing the various orchestral and choral programs and teaching instrument lessons and supporting theory classes. They promote the System locally through concerts and recitals, and act as a bridge to ensure that the most talented students pursue their studies. In many cases they also become centers promoting educational, artistic, and cultural activities in the community. They promote the development of children and young people’s cognitive, musical, personal, and social skills. There are different types of centers that vary in size and complexity, with an average of 2,000 beneficiaries per center. There are centers in every state in the country (with 12 in the Capital District). Financing. ….. Quality of service. The System has achieved high levels of quality in its services. Despite the sharp increase in annual enrollment, it continues to implement a pioneering teaching method that simultaneously integrates theoretical, instrumental practice, and orchestral practice components of orchestral execution from the outset. This ensures that individuals participate in a group from the moment they enter the System and engage in theoretical and instrumental music instruction in an isolated manner (as is common in other traditional teaching methods), but rather collectively with other boys, girls, and young people. Unlike other group teaching methods (such as, the Suzuki method), the Venezuelan method also ensures early and continued exposure to great musical works, on the one hand, and on the other, seeks continuous contact between the beneficiary and his or her community. This strong link with the community—through frequent community performances— ensures that the beneficiary remains motivated and stays in the System. According to the baseline developed for this program, beneficiaries participate in the System for an average of 10 years. This allows them to absorb values such as teamwork and the pursuit of collective excellence during their participation in the System. As a result, 85% of students achieve a level of music proficiency considered good or excellent. All beneficiaries receive at least one individual class per week and at least three weekly workshops by instrument. The System provides an average of 17 hours of classroom time per week, for 40 weeks a year. Despite this academic load, each of the System’s Orchestras averages 26 musical performances a year. Despite swelling enrollment in recent years, the ratio of musical instruments per student has remained at two instruments for every three students, which is considered adequate for musical instruction. Benefits. Sixty-three percent of
the System’s beneficiaries have good or excellent achievement in school
(compared to 50% among their classmates who do not participate in the System).
Parents report substantial improvements in their children’s punctuality,
responsibility, and discipline after going through the System (95%, 96%, and
86%, respectively, according to the 2004 ULA report). According to the results
of a recent cost-benefit study conducted during program preparation, there are
important social benefits—representing about 1.68 bolívares for
each bolívar invested in the System— from the decline in the
school dropout rate and the drop in victimization in communities where the
System is present (see Table 3 below).
The program’s baseline also confirms the benefits related to the
training of human capital and individual behavior (two-thirds of parents
surveyed report these as the primary advantages of their children’s
participation in the System). As shown in Table 1, there are also significant
benefits in terms of social capital formation and improvement in formal
employment expectations for young people of working age (14 and up). Table
1
3 The survey was conducted from October
to December 2006, in 15 System centers (12% of all centers) in six states. The
sample consisted of 840 boys, girls, and young people, as well as 500 parents
and/or guardians. They were organized into two groups of equal size: the
intervention group and the control group, based on whether or not they
participated in the System. Information was collected on a total of 26
indicators. Beneficiaries. It is estimated
that more than two million boys, girls, and young people ages 3 to 19 have
passed through the System since its creation in the 1970s. The annual growth in
enrollment over the last seven years has been over 13%, with annual growth rates
exceeding 20% in states with medium or low human development such as FESNOJIV’s
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