Save the EWG Music Program
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We, the undersigned, protest Superintendant Geismars proposal for the elimination of .8 teaching position in music in the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School system, recognizing that it means systematically dismantling the entire band and chorus program from the bottom up.
Several hundred EWG students currently participate in performance ensembles in our district, which are offered during the school day for academic credit. The program is open to any student in grades 5 through 12 within the district, and the unique learning environment opens the students minds and often inspires them to seek fields of study that might never have occurred to them. For those who have already chosen their future field of study, the resources at these schools nurture their abilities and improve the skills that they need to be successful in their chosen specialties.
In short, this program offers life-changing experiences that fundamentally influence the alumnis future careers and decisions in life.
Music education is one of the most precious things we can give to the youth of our towns. The following facts imply a necessity of music instruction at all levels, especially instrumental and choral music from grades 5 through 12. If the EWG school district eliminates Band and Chorus from the elementary schools, it will only be a matter of time before the program in grades 7 through 12 disintegrates, negating the benefits of such instruction. These facts are research based, and represent our views on the benefits of instrumental and choral music instruction:
The term core academic subjects means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11)
The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order to succeed in college. Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York
Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990
A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996
One limitation on the practical scheduling of music classes is often concern over impact on students' other studies from "pull-out" programs, in which students leave ongoing classes for music study. A 1985 Study by Edward Kvet of Loyola University found, however, that sixth-grade students involved in music study through pull-out programs do just as well in reading, language, and mathematics as their counterparts who don't leave class for music study.
Brain imagery has shown increases in parts of the cerebral hemisphere and in the thickness of neural fibers connecting the two sides of the brain in children who begin stringed-instrument study before the age of seven, compared to children who are not exposed to this kind of learning. Some scientists theorize that young keyboard and string players are using both hands in ways that twentieth-century American children usually don't have to do. --From "Straight Talk about Music and Brain Research," by Ella Wilcox
Students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematical proficiency by grade 12. This observation holds both generally and for low socioeconomic status students as a subgroup. In addition, absolute differences in measured mathematics proficiency between students consistently involved versus not involved in instrumental music grew significantly over time. -- James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, "Involvement in the Arts and Human Development."
In "Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning," the contributors highlight some of the "take-home" messages about arts: 1. The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies and truancies and, eventually, dropouts down. 2. Students connect to each other better - greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm. 3. It changes the environment to one of discovery. This can re-ignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts. 4. Arts provide challenges for students at all levels, from delayed to gifted. It's a class where all students can find their own level, automatically. 5. Arts connect learners to the world of real work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer public. 6. Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction for the next high-stake test. 7. Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their targets.
For these reasons and more, we the undersigned, formally protest the proposal to eliminate .8 teaching position in music in the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School system.
Several hundred EWG students currently participate in performance ensembles in our district, which are offered during the school day for academic credit. The program is open to any student in grades 5 through 12 within the district, and the unique learning environment opens the students minds and often inspires them to seek fields of study that might never have occurred to them. For those who have already chosen their future field of study, the resources at these schools nurture their abilities and improve the skills that they need to be successful in their chosen specialties.
In short, this program offers life-changing experiences that fundamentally influence the alumnis future careers and decisions in life.
Music education is one of the most precious things we can give to the youth of our towns. The following facts imply a necessity of music instruction at all levels, especially instrumental and choral music from grades 5 through 12. If the EWG school district eliminates Band and Chorus from the elementary schools, it will only be a matter of time before the program in grades 7 through 12 disintegrates, negating the benefits of such instruction. These facts are research based, and represent our views on the benefits of instrumental and choral music instruction:
The term core academic subjects means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11)
The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order to succeed in college. Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York
Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990
A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996
One limitation on the practical scheduling of music classes is often concern over impact on students' other studies from "pull-out" programs, in which students leave ongoing classes for music study. A 1985 Study by Edward Kvet of Loyola University found, however, that sixth-grade students involved in music study through pull-out programs do just as well in reading, language, and mathematics as their counterparts who don't leave class for music study.
Brain imagery has shown increases in parts of the cerebral hemisphere and in the thickness of neural fibers connecting the two sides of the brain in children who begin stringed-instrument study before the age of seven, compared to children who are not exposed to this kind of learning. Some scientists theorize that young keyboard and string players are using both hands in ways that twentieth-century American children usually don't have to do. --From "Straight Talk about Music and Brain Research," by Ella Wilcox
Students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematical proficiency by grade 12. This observation holds both generally and for low socioeconomic status students as a subgroup. In addition, absolute differences in measured mathematics proficiency between students consistently involved versus not involved in instrumental music grew significantly over time. -- James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, "Involvement in the Arts and Human Development."
In "Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning," the contributors highlight some of the "take-home" messages about arts: 1. The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies and truancies and, eventually, dropouts down. 2. Students connect to each other better - greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm. 3. It changes the environment to one of discovery. This can re-ignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts. 4. Arts provide challenges for students at all levels, from delayed to gifted. It's a class where all students can find their own level, automatically. 5. Arts connect learners to the world of real work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer public. 6. Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction for the next high-stake test. 7. Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their targets.
For these reasons and more, we the undersigned, formally protest the proposal to eliminate .8 teaching position in music in the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School system.
672 Signatures
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Dan Traficante
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Justin Peters
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Rhode Island Music Educator
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Alyssa Harel
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned EWG alumni
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Alan Bernstein
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- concerned citizen
- Comments
- Tough decisions are often made at this juncture of difficult budget seasons. While at first blush it may seem that programs such as performing arts are expendable for the greater good, the damage that this would do would be very difficult to undo. Skills that are taught in these programs are of inestimable value to the students and to the system. Community skills, divergent thinking, math and pattern development all provide sufficient motivation to support these programs. Additionally the intrinsic value of these programs add a value to the lives of these students that will enrich them far beyond the bell. Please reconsider these cuts as they will do harm to your students.
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Rita Maron
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Theater/Drama Teacher in RI Schools! Aunt to EWG band student!
- Comments
- I was fortunate enough to sit on the Governors Task Force, Literacy in Arts, requiring every student graduate with 1 credit in the arts. How do we accomplish this when they are cutting these programs everywhere! WE NEED ARE ART PROGRAMS!!!
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Audrey Cardany
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned Citizen
- Comments
- In these economic times, music and the arts are exactly what our children require.
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Susan Woythaler
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- concerned RI citizen
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Christine Eldridge
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School Community Ensembles Director
- Comments
- The research demonstrates that quality, in-school, instrumental music programs have a positive impact on the academic performance of the students involved, and on the overall performance of a school. Research also indicates that instrumental music education programs are an economical way to bolster attendance, reduce drop-out rates, and improve academic performance. For instrumental music to have this positive impact, it should start in the 4th or 5th grade. Students who start in elementary school are more likely to continue through high school, where the most significant benefits materialize.
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Brenda Carnevale
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Parent
- Comments
- I am the parent of an EWG Jr High Student who has been in band since Metcalf. I can not begin to tell you how the children who are exposed to music in the earlier grades are filled with pride as they watch their growth when they enter JR. HIGH. Under the direction of Mr. Charest , the children are filled with pride when they play their instruments. I have attended all the concerts my son has been in since Metcalf and seen growth in students that may not have had any direction at all. I have also been fortunate enough to attend the Band Festival last spring and saw a sense of pride in these childeren as they represented their school. My thanks and praise to the band program and to Mr. Charest who has done a wonderful job with this program.
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Michaela Poulton
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Former Student
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Peter Kiley
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concern muisc educator
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Caitlin M. Studley
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Alumni of the EWG Music Program
- Comments
- I wouldn't be who I am today, if not for the music program.
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Robert Rappa
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned Citizen
- Comments
- The elimination of music education at any level is an admission of educational carelessness and ignorance of what an wholly educated person truly is. Many of America's woes stem from a LACK of education, not the opposite. If we really care about our children, our communities, and our nation, then we must make a meaningful commitment to education at every level, and especially in music. вMusic education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around themвa world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.в вGerald Ford, former President, United States of America.
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Katie Moniz
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Former Student & Band Member
- Comments
- I can't even imagine a school without music. The benefits of music in schools is extraordinary, and from a personal standpoint I can definitely back up that fact. Music is such an integral part of development, especially in younger kids like the ones at Metcalf.
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Brandon Levesque
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- R.I. Music Educator
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sarah barbour
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- student
- Comments
- keep program!
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matt dampier
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
- Comments
- keep teh music!!
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kristen
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- concerned student
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Benjamin Kupa
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Current Student
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William
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- student
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Austin Trudeau
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Oliver Walsh
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
- Comments
- Music truely increases the intelect of students and gives those of us who are musically inclined a place to express ourselves. If you get gid of the Metcalf music programyou are attacking the entire EWG music program and destroying creativity.
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Anna Gyorgy
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student (Tri M Member)
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Fritz Benz
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned Citizen and former EWG Music Director!
- Comments
- Music should be accessible to ALL students, not for the priveleged few who can consistently go to after school rehearsals. In the secondary schools, band and chorus are CURRICULAR, and are aligned with State Arts Standards/GSE's. How we can treat these courses any differently at the elementary level? This is akin to having science classes after school in elementary and hoping the kids who can go learn what they need to graduate! Keep music ensembles in the school day where they belong!
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Brian Fines
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student, EWG Alumni, Jazz Performance Major @ URI
- Comments
- Music is one of the many intelligences; It is a way of thinking and reasoning. Music is as important a subject as any other. This is a fact.
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Chris Wright
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
- Comments
- The point of a music program in school, just like any other subject, is to introduce kids to a topic so that they can somewhat have an idea of what they want to do in their lives and what they want to persue in their high school careers. Getting rid of that opportunity in junior high (or only limiting it to be available for the kids who can sustain rides after school) would not be fair for the kids who only have music as a strong point in their lives.
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Stephen Morrison
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Music Educator/Band/Choral Director
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Faith Kaplan
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned Citizen
- Comments
- As a music teacher, it would be horrific to have these cuts put into place. Save the music program!
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Adam Bertone
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Former Student, Aspiring Musician
- Comments
- School is the foundation for all goals and dreams to be reached
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Topher Gent
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- EWG Alum, Student-RISD
- Comments
- The arts are essential to a well rounded education for every student. Cutting the music program shouldn't even be in question. Without the music program at EWG, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
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Michael Giacalone
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Robert Barbour
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- concerned citizen
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Alberto Cardona
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
- Comments
- Without band class in the elementary schools anymore, those students will have a less chance of getting into their desired college because colleges look at activities and if students aren't in any sports then it will be that much harder to get into there.
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Mary Katherine Earle
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Janice Barbour
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- concerned citizen
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Claudia Carlson Vars
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Kylie Woodmansee
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Current Student (Tri-M Member)
- Comments
- Music is my life literally. i don't know what i would do without it. Keep the program!
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Helen Pagliaro
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Parent, concerned citizen, student AND future music educator
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Claudia Cardona
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Parent
- Comments
- Every time the band performs, there is a sense of accomplishment and dedication in each and everyone of the band students and pride for us parents. Thank you Mr. Charest for your dedication towards our children and the music department at EWG. Keep the music department going.
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Tara McGovern
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Deirdre Seguin Spadazzi
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Director of Bands at Ponaganset Middle School
- Comments
- Placing a band program after school at the elementary level is very ineffective (check with Johnston and Scituate) and severely limits which students will be able to participate. I strongly caution against this move.
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Katie Roy
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Future music educator
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Emilie Bard
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- student
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Wade Zawatsky
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Sarah Ferry
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- student, music educator
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Edson L. Place
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Concerned Citizen
- Comments
- Music is an essential Program to learning!
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Katey Acquaro
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Avery
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- Student
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Dan Lennon
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- EWG Alumni
- Comments
- Music is a universal language.
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Luke Trudeau
- I am a: Parent, Student, Concerned Citizen
- student
- Comments
- How can you cut the music program? The music classes are so important to everyone in them and the parents of those students. Everyone in the band, chorus, or any other music program dedicates so much of their time to pursue doin sometihng they love. If you are goin to cut anything, school board, cut our awful sports teams!
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672
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