Music Education National Recognition

DeSoto ISD Fine Arts Receives National Recognition for Sixth Consecutive Year
Posted on 04/07/2021
This is the image for the news article titled DeSoto ISD Fine Arts Receives National Recognition for Sixth Consecutive Year

DeSoto ISD has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.  Now in its 22nd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

 

“We are so excited about what this recognition means for our school community,” said DeSoto ISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. D’Andre Weaver. “We have some of the most talented scholars and teachers I’ve had the privilege of serving as an educator and it makes me extremely proud to know that our kids are benefitting from such high-quality music education programs such as those we offer in DeSoto ISD.”

 

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, DeSoto ISD Director of Fine Arts and Advanced Academics Dr. Jaime Kovar answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials, the State of Texas, and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

 

“I came into a DeSoto ISD two years ago and was immediately impressed by the robust music and fine arts offerings as well as the educators leading those programs,” said Kovar. “To know that we are exposing our student to fine arts, performing arts, music and dance as early as kindergarten with an opportunity to continue those experiences through graduation is incredible but to see the benefits of students’ engagement and exposure is even greater.”

 

Since the passage by Congress in 2015 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a stated emphasis on a well-rounded education, many school districts have re-committed to music and arts education programs and found that in this time of a national pandemic, provides a valuable way to keep students engaged in school. ESSA provides designated funding for well-rounded educational opportunities through Title IV Part A Student Academic Success and Achievement grants. NAMM Foundation research has revealed that these grants are being widely used by school districts to address instructional gaps in access to music and arts education.

 

Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music: After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.