Advocacy

Among the functions of the 84-year-old Reading Musical Foundation  is to publicize facts linking participation in school music programs with highly valued attributes in adult life, as well as advancing music for its own sake.

We appreciate that pressures from every level of government and a sustained weak economy have pushed public school finances to the edge.  Although we would like to convince administrators that arts education generally, and participation in school music ensembles in particular, are among school's greatest investments, we will not do that here, out of respect for the plight we all share. 

What we offer is to serve as your resource.  During the last decade, RMF has amassed considerable research linking school music programs with persistence in school, particularly among socio-economically challenged students; higher graduation rates; higher SAT scores; higher rates of college acceptance; and as adults, greater civic involvement, a higher rate of volunteerism in the community, and support for the community’s real-time music performances. 

Essentially, musical training strongly promotes the very accuracy, consistency, reliability, discipline, and appreciation of teamwork's exponential advantages that employers and communities value highly.

Please visit our Music Education Statistics page for detailed research figures.

Additionally, the following articles have excellent information regarding the state of music and arts education programs across the country:

The Creativity Crisis, Newsweek, July 2010.
Summary: As quoted from the article, "The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ. "It is the scores of younger children in America - from kindergarten through sixth grade - for whom the decline is "most serious.'"

Link: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

STEM to STEAM
Summary: "Science and math are only part of the solution. To stay competitive in a changing world, we need to think with our hands." Read: we need the arts to stay on task with an ever-changing world. STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math) is being pushed, but there's a missing letter - A - for arts. Students need to learn in a three-dimensional atmosphere to build their creative skills.

PDF File: STEM to STEAM