The Sound of Silence
Music and Arts Education in NYC Schools February 2020 With a July 2020 Update
JULY 2020 UPDATE: MUSIC EDUCATION DURING COVID-19 This report, which reflects information from School Year 2018-2019, reveals the extent to which access to music education has been inequitably distributed across New York City before the current pandemic. Nearly six months into the pandemic, the devastating effects of COVID-19 continue to impact our country’s financial, economic, and social health and well-being. In this alarming environment, schools are facing impossible choices in response to current and pending funding cuts. The findings within this report suggest that, while schools serving wealthier families will likely rely on PTA funding to continue music programming this year, schools with little PTA funding are in danger of losing music programming altogether due to pandemic-related cuts. Additionally, we confidently predict that the lack of physical space in high-poverty schools, which already presents a significant barrier to music education programming (see page 8 for more details), will be exacerbated by the need to enforce social distancing during in-person instruction. And while some school subjects may readily translate to remote learning without loss of quality, music education is not one of them. We have already seen some of our partner schools deprioritize music education for their students, in some cases removing music entirely from their fall scheduling due to space constraints as well as budget cuts. This report is one among many that highlight the critical benefits of and inequitable access to music education. As you read this report, we urge you to consider how the decisions we make now may exacerbate the existing racial-socioeconomic disparities in access to a complete education.
July 2020 Update
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY According to the Department of Education’s (DOE) reporting, about 70% of New York City public schools deem arts funding insufficient. As a result, schools are failing to employ certified music teachers (over 50% of NYC schools have no full-time certified music teacher) or provide their music teachers with sufficient arts-specific professional development. Funding is also inequitable. Overwhelmingly, low-poverty schools can use significant funding from Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) to supplement DOE funding for the arts. In contrast, high-poverty schools–which tend to be located in economically-marginalized communities–do not have this advantage. In fact, PTAs at lowpoverty schools raise nearly 9 times more than what PTAs raise per student at high-poverty schools. High-poverty schools are also less likely to have space and equipment necessary to support music programming and are missing out on the power of school concerts to engage families positively. The failure to provide music education is apparent at the secondary level (grades 6-12). The majority of NYC public middle school students do not meet the NYSED arts requirements, and 73% of NYC public high schools do not offer any sequence of music credits to their students.
KEY FINDINGS: • Low-poverty schools have significant funding from PTAs to spend on the arts, while high-poverty schools are more likely to rely on what the DOE provides. • NYC schools are failing to provide certified music teachers to students. • Music teachers at high-poverty schools aren’t getting arts-specific PD. • NYC secondary students lack access to basic music instruction. • High-poverty schools struggle to provide space and equipment for music programming. • School concerts are a significant way of boosting parent contact at high poverty schools, but these schools are missing out. • High-poverty schools in NYC are less likely to engage a music vendor than low-poverty schools. When ETM is the school vendor, far more students receive direct music instruction. 1
INTRODUCTION In this Report Each year, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) releases official reports and accompanying data sets that describe and quantify the state of arts education in NYC public schools, a system of about 1,800 schools that serve 1.1 million students. However, because these reports often overlook how access to music and arts education is inequitably distributed, Education Through Music (ETM) conducts analyses of the available raw data. This report includes findings from our analyses and includes indicators of the “musical health” of ETM partner schools for comparative purposes, where available. All schools included in this report are NYC public schools.
Why Music Education? At Education Through Music, we know that learning in music is as fundamental to children’s development as is learning in math, science, and literacy. The goal of education is to provide a balance of experiences and opportunities that enable children to acquire as many intellectual, emotional, and social skills as possible, as deeply and thoroughly as possible. By partnering with under-resourced schools to deliver music as a core subject for ALL students, ETM makes music education a reality for tens of thousands of children who would otherwise have limited or no access to music education.
Education Through Music Provides Access ETM partners primarily with schools that serve large concentrations of students living in high-poverty neighborhoods to provide essential resources and support for music education. Compared to other high-poverty schools, ETM partner schools are more likely to: • provide music instruction by a music educator • report that music educators receive 24+ hours of arts-specific PD • devote adequate space to music • provide students with technological resources vital to music programming • host school concerts that engage families • serve a higher percentage of students per school than other music vendors In some areas, ETM partner schools perform as well or better than low-poverty schools, helping to close the city’s wealth gap in access to music education. ETM is uniquely poised to address the gap in secondary music programming as it expands to middle schools and high schools.
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INTRODUCTION, CONT. INTRODUCTION How We Measure In this report, we use the Economic Need Index (ENI) as a measure of school-level poverty. The ENI is a DOE-devised measure that is calculated for each student on a scale of 0-1, with 1 representing greater economic need. Housing status, home language, and the poverty level of the students’ census tract all factor into the ENI. Student ENIs are averaged to form a single school-level ENI. In this report, we consider a “low-poverty” school to be one with an ENI that is less than or equal to .65 (up to and including the 25th percentile of school ENIs). A “high-poverty” school is one with an ENI greater than or equal to 0.75 (40th percentile or greater of school ENIs).
Glossary of Terms in this Report ETM Partner School: A school that has partnered with ETM to implement our unique model of music education as a core subject in their school. 70% of ETM partner schools are high-poverty schools, according to this report’s definition of high-poverty. Cultural Organization: According to the DOE, any organization or vendor that provides arts and cultural education services to schools is a cultural organization. Under that definition, ETM qualifies as a cultural organization and is indicated as such in the data found within this report. Professional Development: Also referred to as PD, professional development refers to a wide variety of specialized training, formal education, or advanced professional learning intended to help DOE administrators, teachers, and other educators improve their knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness. ETM creates and provides original professional development opportunities for ETM teachers as well as teachers outside of our organization.
Data Sources 2018-2019 Arts Data Survey https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/2018-2019-arts-data-survey 2018-2019 School Demographic Snapshot https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Education/2018-2019-School-DemographicSnapshot/45j8-f6um 2018-2019 School Quality Snapshots https://tools.nycenet.edu/snapshot/2019/ 2018-2019 PA/PTA Fundraising Report https://infohub.nyced.org/reports/government-reports/local-law-171-of-2018
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NO FUN WITHOUT FUNDING High-poverty schools are about seven times less likely than low-poverty schools to fund their arts programming through their Parent Teacher Association (PTA). High-poverty schools are also three times more likely to report receiving no arts funding other than what the Department of Education (DOE) provides.
Percentage of Schools Using Non-DOE Resources for Arts Education PTA
Cultural Org
No external funding
67% 38%
37% 9% Low-poverty schools
29%
10% High-poverty schools
Median PTA Income per Student Among Schools That Used the PTA to Fund the Arts High-poverty schools Low-poverty schools
$18 $166
7 out of 10 NYC schools say arts funding is insufficient.
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BOTTOM LINE:
Low-poverty schools have significant funding from PTAs to spend on the arts, while high-poverty schools are more likely to rely on what the DOE provides.
TEACHING WITHOUT TEACHERS Percentage of Schools With No Certified Music Teacher 39% of middle schools and 56% of high schools provide ZERO certified music teachers, either part- or full-time.
39%
56%
Middle Schools
High Schools
Pre-K Music in Schools
Over half of NYC schools have ZERO full-time certified music teachers on staff. Half of the schools serving Pre-K either have no music instruction or no school-based music teacher for Pre-K.
No music instruction provided Music instruction provided by someone other than a schoolbased music teacher
6%
42%
52%
Music instruction provided by school-based music teacher
Pre-K Music Instruction
ETM partner schools have equivalent or better rates of providing Pre-K music instruction than low-poverty schools.
No music instruction
Someone other than a school-based music teacher
ETM Partner Schools 3% Low-poverty schools 3%
BOTTOM LINE:
26% 42%
School-based music teacher
71% 56%
NYC schools are failing to provide certified music teachers to students.
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THE STATE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Percentage of Schools Reporting Zero School-based Music Teachers Attended Arts PD
28% 39%
High-poverty schools are nearly twice as likely to report that no school-based music teachers attended arts-specific professional development.
51% 56%
Low-poverty schools
High-poverty schools
Providers of PD to Music Teachers All schools
ETM Partner schools
DOE Cultural Org District In-house University DOE Cultural Org District In-house University
72% 47% 29% 23% 10% 56% 59% 26% 21%
The DOE is the largest provider of PD to music teachers but is not necessarily providing arts-specific PD. Music teachers at ETM partner schools are more likely than the average teacher to attend PD through cultural organizations like ETM, which provide music-specific PD.
7%
Average Hours of Arts-specific PD for School-based Music Teachers 24+ hours
31%
30%
32%
43%
13-23 hours
28%
30%
24%
18%
1-12 hours
41%
40%
44%
39%
Music teachers at ETM partner schools are more likely to receive 24+ hours of artsspecific PD than the city-wide average.
All LowHighETM schools poverty poverty Partner schools schools Schools
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BOTTOM LINE:
Music teachers at high-poverty schools aren’t getting arts-specific PD.
NO MUSIC FOR BIG KIDS 2 out of 3 eighth-grade students failed to meet NYSED arts requirements* of completing two art courses in two different arts disciplines taught by a certified art teacher.
*See appendix for explanation of NYSED requirements and music sequence definition
Percentage of High Schools Offering at Least One Music Sequence NYC public high schools are required to offer students the opportunity to complete at least six credits in one of the four arts disciplines (music, visual art, theater, dance). Still, few schools offer music for that opportunity. Only 27% of schools serving grades 9-12 offered at least one 6-credit music sequence.
BOTTOM LINE:
27%
NYC secondary students lack access to basic music instruction.
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FINDING ROOM FOR MUSIC High-poverty schools are 14% less likely than low-poverty schools to have any rooms dedicated to or used for music education. They are also less likely to have technological resources that are vital to a music program, such as sound equipment, midi keyboards, or music editing software. ETM partner schools are more likely than low-poverty schools to have space dedicated to their music program, and have comparable technological resources.
Space and Equipment Low poverty schools
High poverty schools
ETM Partner Schools
98%
92% 77%
66%
Has room(s) dedicated or used for music education
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BOTTOM LINE:
58%
64%
Has sound equipment, MIDI keyboards, or music editing software
High-poverty schools struggle to provide space and equipment for music programming.
IN CONCERT WITH FAMILIES High-poverty schools that host at least one school concert report 16% higher parent attendance at school arts events (including music concerts) than high-poverty schools with no concerts. Parent attendance at arts events is generally strong at low-poverty schools regardless of school concerts, suggesting that school concerts may uniquely engage parents at high-poverty schools.
Parent Attendance at School Arts Events No school concerts 93% 99%
Low-poverty schools
At least one concert 95% 79%
High-poverty schools
ETM partner schools report parent attendance at arts events on par with low-poverty schools that hold concerts.
1 in 4 NYC schools held zero school concerts last year. High-poverty schools were 18% less likely than low-poverty schools to hold any school concerts. ETM partner schools were most likely to hold any school concerts, exceeding rates of lowpoverty schools.
BOTTOM LINE:
Percentage of Schools Reporting Any School Concerts 97%
88% 76%
All schools
70%
Lowpoverty schools
Highpoverty schools
ETM Partner Schools
School concerts are a significant way of boosting parent contact at high-poverty schools, but these schools are missing out.
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MUSIC VENDORS IN NYC SCHOOLS DOE vendors provide myriad services to both DOE staff and students, from direct instruction and professional development to supplies and resources. ETM is considered a DOE vendor that provides direct instruction to students.
Percentage of Schools Using One or More Vendors to Provide Music Service
Mean Percentage of Students Served Per School All vendors
48%
ETM Partner Schools
33%
Low-poverty schools High-poverty schools
Type of Service Provided by Music Vendor Arts-related field trips
Teacher PD 8%
Direct instruction to students
58%
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Reason For Discontinuing Music Service Provider Unsatisfactory quality of services High cost of services
14% In-school student workshops
The majority of NYC schools must rely on vendors to provide direct music instruction to students, but maintaining the funding for such vendors is exceptionally challenging.
BOTTOM LINE:
74%
ETM strives to serve all students in grades K-6 in our partner schools and make music accessible to all students in grades 7-8.
15%
19%
31%
33% Reduced school budget
48%
5%
Limited capacity of provider
High-poverty schools in NYC are less likely to engage a music vendor than low-poverty schools. When ETM is the school vendor, far more students receive direct music instruction.
APPENDIX: New York State Instructional Requirements in the Arts
Below is a summary of the various arts and arts education requirements and guidelines established by the New York State Education Department (NYSED): Pre-Kindergarten–Kindergarten Each school operating a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten program shall establish and provide an educational program based on and adapted to the ages, interests, and needs of the children. Learning experiences in such programs shall include dance, music, theater, and visual arts. Grades 1–3 NYSED Requirements During grades 1 through 3, all students shall receive instruction that is designed to facilitate their attainment of the New York State elementary learning standards in the arts, including dance, music, theater, and visual arts. NYSED Guidelines In grades 1 through 3, 20 percent of the weekly time spent in school should be allocated to dance, music, theater, and visual arts. In New York City, this is the equivalent of approximately 186 hours throughout the entire school year equally allocated among dance, music, theater, and visual arts. Grades 4–6 NYSED Requirements In grades 4, 5, and 6, all students shall receive instruction that is designed to facilitate their attainment of the New York State intermediate learning standards in the arts, including dance, music, theater, and visual arts. NYSED Guidelines In grades 4, 5, and 6, 10 percent of the weekly time spent in school should be allocated to dance, music, theater, and visual arts. In New York City, this is the equivalent of approximately 93 hours throughout the entire school year, equally allocated among dance, music, theater, and visual arts. 11
APPENDIX, CONT.
Grades 7–8 NYSED Requirements Except as otherwise provided herein, all students shall be provided instruction designed to enable them to achieve by the end of grade 8 New York State intermediate learning standards in the arts, including one half-unit of study in the visual arts and one half-unit of study in music. In New York City, one half-unit is the equivalent of approximately 55 hours of instruction by a certified art teacher. In ongoing collaboration with the New York State Education Department, a variance for middle schools was approved, allowing New York City public schools to meet the arts instructional requirement through any two of the four art forms by certified arts teachers in grades 7 and 8. In addition to music and visual arts, middle school students may now fulfill the arts instructional requirements in any two of the four art forms. Grades 9–12 NYSED Requirements New York State graduation requirements for the arts include one unit in the arts (dance, theater, visual arts, and/or music). One unit is defined as 180 minutes per week throughout the school year or the equivalent. In New York City, two credits are the equivalent of one unit. Availability of Arts Sequences A public school district shall offer students the opportunity to complete a three- or five-unit sequence in the arts (dance, music, theater, or visual arts).
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Every child, at every school, deserves access to high-quality music education. Education Through Music (ETM) partners with under-resourced schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilizes music education as a catalyst to improve overall achievement, motivation for school, and self-confidence. Learn more at ETMonline.org
P: 212-972-4788 info@ETMonline.org 122 E. 42nd St., Suite 1501 New York, NY 10168