It's sad that this is still something we have to fight for, especially after everyone proclaimed newfound appreciation for the arts during the pandemic, but in the United States and in many other countries around the world, music teachers are continuing to face lack of respect for music as a school subject. In honor of Music In Our Schools Month® just starting, today I want to share 3 resources to use as reference in advocating for the importance of music education.
First let me be clear: I am intentionally not calling these my 3 "favorite" or the 3 "best" resources because there are so many great ones out there. There are piles and piles of published research studies showing the positive impact of a strong music education on students and student learning that I have used over the years. Don't miss those if you have access to educational research journals etc to look for specific articles and studies! But these are some more general resources, most that have many different specific resources that can be used as effective advocacy tools and references, and are available online to anyone without an account, so they are good ones to keep bookmarked and are my current first stops when I'm looking for material.
1. NAfME
Obviously one of the primary purposes of the National Association for Music Education is to advocate for the importance of music education in the United States, so they are a good starting point for advocacy references, especially in the US. Some of my most commonly referenced resources in recent years have been the Opportunity to Learn Standards, and their publications on Title-IV-A funding, but there are lots of other excellent resources that can help you navigate and leverage current legislation at the federal and state level on their advocacy page.
2. Bigger Better Brains
This is an Australian-based organization but they have done an amazing job compiling, and keeping up with, current research on music education specifically. Their whole site is worth exploring, but their page on research updates, which you can scroll through to see the latest updates and search by specific topics, and their social media (I follow their facebook page), where they post shareable, high-impact advocacy graphics (if you're a music teacher on social media you probably saw some of their graphics getting passed around in the last couple of years, like the "this is not a (fill in instrument name)" series) are my top 2 go-to sources for reference material.
3. John Hattie
I am assuming this will be the least-known resource for music education advocacy material within music teacher circles, and he has far fewer resources specific to music education advocacy than the first 2 I've mentioned (especially available free online), but I am incredibly excited to have come across his materials this school year and really want more music teachers to know about him and take advantage of his content! If you haven't heard his name before, John Hattie is the person who wrote "Visible Learning" (and its sequels/ companions), a synthesis of thousands of meta-studies, that has become one of the primary resources school leaders reference for best practices and school improvement. I guarantee most administrators today know who he is or are at least familiar with the findings from his publications. What many people don't know, though, is that he started as a music teacher! Because he is so widely known and respected in the broader field of education and educational leadership, I think it is so powerful to be able to reference him and his research to advocate for music education specifically. He has several research articles on music education- most you need an account for- but the one thing I love sharing most as a "sound bite" is this video where he is responding to the question a school principal asked about the effect of music, art, and physical activity on student learning:
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