Source: Education Dive
Music education is not an inexpensive offering for schools and districts. John Gerdy, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Music for Everyone, which supports music education in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, said its instrument repair program gave out $112,000 in grants in the spring of 2018. However, the group received $250,000 worth of requests. Schools that offer music programs have a 90.2% graduation rate, and a 93.9% attendance rate, as opposed to schools that don’t offer music education, which have a 72.9% graduation and 84.9% attendance rate, according to research quoted by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation. Those numbers don’t surprise Danielle Roby, senior coordinator of music education and theater at Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia. The district has maintained a music program for all students — from kindergarten through 12th grade. Roby said students who participate in music in their district on average score 20% to 25% higher on tests and AP tests than students who aren’t involved in these programs.