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No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
President George W. Bush reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, that included Title I (the government's flagship aid program for disadvantaged students). Standardized testing for all students, every year of Elementary and Secondary school. National rankings across America were shockingly low, so Congress reauthorized a standards-based education reform. It was decided that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. -
NCLB: Negative Impact on Music Education
“No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) education law begins to seriously affect access to music education for America’s public school students. The requirements for standardized testing in literacy, math and science forced local districts to divert resources away from other subjects including music, fine arts, and PE. All resources are allocated to testing materials and test prep. 82% of public school music budget was cut. -
Nationwide Music Budget Cuts
After the reinactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, massive budget cuts were made to music departments across America. As a personal example, my mom was teaching general elementary music for 8 years before NCLB. Once NCLB was reinacted, they immediately cut her department's budget and a two years later, they cut the program from her entire district. Now, she teaches middle school band because it's one of the few music jobs available in her district. They also offer HS band and choir. -
Carl D. Perkins Vocational & Applied Technologies Act
This new Act provided an increased focus on the academic achievement of career and technical education students. This was mainly for secondary education and postsecondary education, and strengthened the connections between secondary and postsecondary education. It's aim was to also improve state and local accountability. -
American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
President Barak Obama signed the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) into law on February 7, 2009. It's comon nameis the Stimulus or The Recovery Act. It was an economic stimulus package that allocated over 100 billion dollars in funding toward K-12 schools. Hardly any of this money went into reviving any music education programs. Elementary and general music classes are mostly nonexistent. Only band and choir are offered for students in middle school and high school. -
Race To The Top
Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion dollar competative grant that was passed by President Barak Obama through the United States Department of Education. This grant was created to spark and reward innovation and reforms in state K-12 education and local district K-12 education. Performance-based evaluations for teachers and principals were conducted yearly, based on a series of educator measurements. High-performing charter schools were developed and encouraged. Common-Core standards are adopted. -
Race to the Top Affects Music Educators
High standards are being put on classroom teachers across America. With the Race to the Top grant, now Music Educators are being affected. Music educators are now being held to an even higher standard, all while having to face a diminishing music education budget and lower support from public school system. -
Lack of Common Core Standards for Music Education
As Common Core Standards continue to flourish in the public school system, there are several subject areas that still do not have any Common Core Standards. Music, Drama, and other Fine Arts do not have any Common Core Standards. Other subjects include Foreign Language and Physical Education. The core subjects like Math, English, and Science are very important, but Music is also very important for our students. CC Standards are still being developed & hopefully music standards will pop up soon.
