National Governors Association Presentation on Strategies to Improve Low Performing Schools

Thank you Governor Hodges. On behalf of Bob Morrison and everyone involved with VH1 Save The Music, I want to thank you and Governor Taft for the opportunity to address this committee today. I also would like to thank you, Governor Hodges for your enthusiasm for our program and your personal support of our efforts with VH1 Save The Music in South Carolina. I am also pleasantly surprised to share today's panel with two people we at VH1 have come to admire, Cincinnati Superintendent Steven Adamowski and Principal Sharon Johnson from Parham Elementary School. We know them from our work in Cincinnati. Parham is a school where we started a program last year.

You may be wondering why the head of a music television network is here to speak with you about “strategies to improve low performing schools.” This will become clear in a moment.

As you are well aware, we are entering a time of intense focus in our country on improving our schools. As a citizen and a parent, it is a breath of fresh air to see that providing our children with the best possible education has brought everyone in this room together. It is an issue that transcends political boundaries. I know it is a priority for the group gathered here today and I promise you it is also one for us in the business community.

You've heard it here today. The question is no longer whether reform is needed. The debate has now centered on how. This is particularly true when we focus on reform efforts in low performing schools and for our “at risk” youth.

While we do not pretend to have the solution to the larger issue of how to improve our schools, we do believe we have an important part of the solution: Music Education. When I say music education, I am not referring to the exposure of our children to music (like listening to classical CDs or taking kids to an orchestra concert). I am not referring to the use of music to teach another subject. I am talking about the sequential acquisition of skills and knowledge in music. I am talking about making and playing music, as part of the regular curriculum, available to all children.

That is why we started the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. VH1 Save The Music is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring music education in our public schools and to raising awareness about the importance of music participation for our nation's youth. We do this primarily through VH1's reach into 74 million U.S. television homes.

Due to competing demands for time and money in our public schools, music and arts education programs have, in many communities, been eliminated over the past 30 years. The devastation to these programs has been most significant in our more urban and rural schools. One recurring theme I have found in visiting schools across the country is that high-performing schools, without exception, include a robust music and arts education program while low-performing schools in most instances do not.

The elimination of music programs has occurred against the backdrop of a growing body of scientific research that has been reinforcing what many of us in the music community have known all along: Music Education Builds Brain Power. It is a key to improving academic performance and a key to helping at-risk students and low performing schools. I won't ask you to take my word for it. Let's look at the body of evidence:

In a study released last year, second graders from a low income school in Los Angeles were given eight months of piano keyboard training, as well as time playing with newly designed music software. The result? These students, taking the Stanford 9 Math Test, went from scoring in the 30th to the 65th percentile. These second graders were performing sixth grade math. An interesting finding given the TIMMS results of 1998. (Neurological Research, March 15, 1999; Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, University Of California, Irvine)

A related study by University of Wisconsin Professor, Dr. Frances Rauscher published in 1997 in the Scientific Journal Neurological Research showed that children involved with keyboard instruction at an early age showed significantly enhanced abstract reasoning abilities, critical to success in science and complex math. After learning about this research, the Wisconsin School District of Kettle Moraine wanted to see how this concept would work in the real world. They implemented a program that replicated the Rauscher study, using kindergarten students and group piano keyboard instruction. At the end of the school year, students in classes that had received piano keyboard instruction outscored those who received no keyboard instruction by 46 percent! The program has since expanded to K-6 students across the entire district. The critical point here is the students were not taught math using music— they were taught music. It was the process of learning music that helped improve their math skills. (Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2000)

One of the issues for at-risk youth is drug and alcohol abuse. A 1999 report released by the Texas Commission on Drugs and Alcohol Abuse found that students involved in band or orchestra (when compared against other student activities) reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, or drugs). (1999 Texas Commission On Drug And Alcohol Abuse)

According to the College Board, students involved with music, score an average of 100 points higher on SAT tests than students who do not. The longer a student has been involved with music instruction, the greater the difference. (College Board Survey Of Sat Test Takers, 2000)

In another study, Dr. James Catterall of UCLA analyzed the school records of 25,000 students from the NELLS88 Database as they moved through school. He found that students who studied music had higher grades, scored better on standardized tests and had better attendance records. When he factored in economic status he also found that students from poorer families who studied music improved their overall school performance at the same rate or faster than all others. (Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997)

In spite of this evidence, recent public concerns about declining basic skills in reading and mathematics have led some school districts to narrow their curriculum, eliminating subjects like music, in an effort to improve scores on standardized tests.

The result has been the creation of an educational and cultural caste system. A system of have and have-nots. A system where the elementary school children in the suburbs surrounding Baltimore all have music. But, in the city, only 13 of 130 elementary schools include music. The same is true for other areas from Boston to Los Angeles, Milwaukee to New Orleans.

So on the one hand, we have all of this research. On the other hand we have this unfortunate reality.

Inspired by much of this research, and stunned by our first hand knowledge of the elimination of music instruction in New York City public schools, we formed our VH1 Save The Music Foundation in 1997. What we do is simple in concept, but has a real impact on education. It's a partnership. We restore public school music programs. The schools must in turn hire a qualified music teacher, making the program part of the regular curriculum. They must also support standards for music education. We then provide the new or refurbished instruments and materials needed to implement a program. We get the instruments through our nation-wide instrument drives and donations. We have already donated over $10 million worth of musical instruments, and we are proud to be a charter member of America's Promise. Most of the 500 public school music programs we have supported, in some 43 cities around the country, are in the major urban centers some of you in this room represent.

In many instances, our work in a community is the first time many of these schools have had instrumental music programs in more than 20 years.

Besides the academic impact of music instruction, we were pleasantly surprised to find some additional benefits:

1. Music programs are a catalyst for creating parental involvement in schools. The parents not only come to see their children perform they visit the after school rehearsals and interact with the teachers and school officials. For many parents it is the first time they have ever visited their child's school.
2. Music programs have attracted other members of the community, from senior citizens to local business leaders. Once people are in the school, they are able to see firsthand the efforts of the school, not just in music, but in other areas as well.
3. Because students are involved in the study of music during the school day, they practice music after school. It is clear that if a child has an instrument in his or her hand, there is less chance of picking up something more damaging, like a crack pipe, a needle, a bottle or a gun.
4. In many instances, music has become the motivating factor for a child to stay in school. Sharon Johnson from Parham Elementary has emphatically pointed this out to us. So have hundreds of other principals, teachers, students and parents who have written to us at VH1. Participation in a school music program in many instances becomes the only reason a child comes to school.

So what does the public think of this? A Gallup survey conducted last spring showed that:

• 78% of Americans agree that states should mandate music education for all students.
• 85% agree that communities should provide the financial resources for these programs.
• And a whopping 93% agree that schools should offer music instruction as part of the basic curriculum.

I am sure any of you would be happy to have these approval ratings!

So, we've heard the evidence. What we need now is action. So here is how you can help:

As An Organization: We strongly urge that you open the aperture on core subjects covered through your efforts with “Achieve” and look closely at the direct academic benefits of music education. We applaud the work many of you have done and we understand the pressure created by the TIMMS Study to focus on the “basic core” subject areas. We believe the time has come to include the music education in your areas of concern, data collection, standards comparisons and best practices reporting. This is a small request. But its impact, and the message it will send to education officials around the country, will be profound.

Be careful about the unintended consequences often caused by emphasizing only reading, math and accountability. We all agree about the need to stress these issues. But, we need to be sure that we do so in a way that does not send a signal to local communities that this must be done at the expense of music or arts education. We now have solid proof the two go hand in hand. The solution we all seek is not achieved by forcing schools to choose.

In Your States: Focus on what is happening with music in the regular curriculum. The real benefits of music and arts education that we have discussed today come from them being conducted as an academic subject.

Examine the research. Develop your own understanding of the critical impact these programs have on the development of our children, our schools, and our communities. And don't take our word for it. Talk to educators in cities and schools across your state where these music programs are working.

Do you have policies in place and do you promote policies that include music education as an equal educational partner (like math, reading, history and science)? We believe you should.

Do you have standards for the arts? If so, have you established an assessment process? Having standards and an assessment process for music and arts education sends the unmistakable message that the arts are a part of a basic education.

And what would any presentation to a group of distinguished governors be without a request for more money! Some small targeted investments in music can reap years and years of educational rewards.

We are well aware of the challenges you face very day providing leadership for your states. We do not expect you to wake up first thing every day and think about how to put music and arts education back into the classroom. But, we do hope that, based on the information we are sharing with you today, you will recognize its incredible academic power. We believe this so strongly that we have committed millions of dollars of our own. We are not lobbyists. We operate a cable television network and we are parents. Our only vested interest is in our children.

You know in a business like VH1 or our parent company VIACOM, there is one part of the budget you never cut! It's called Product Development. Well, the children in this country are the future products of our society. They are our future customers, our leaders and our neighbors. And as Superintendent Floyd said earlier so eloquently, “children don't control where they live and they can't vote.” It's up to us.

We hope the NGA and each of you in your own states will study and adopt these recommendations. We welcome the opportunity to be your partner in this process.

We're here to work with you. Bob and I welcome your questions or comments.

Thank you!

Source: VH1 Save The Music Foundation