• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

March Means Music: SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation Celebrates Music in Our Schools Month

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 09:00 CST

SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation:

"The nation's top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century."-- "The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education." Business Week, October 1996

Today kicks off National Music in our Schools Month, a time to celebrate and reflect upon the importance of music to the development of a child. Sadly, many schools are forced to leave music programs unfunded and still more are simply unable to provide instruments that could inspire the next great composer. But the SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation has turned this sometimes harsh reality into an opportunity, and now in their second decade, the Foundation encourages businesses to work with them in providing students valuable tools they need for learning.

The SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation, which supports 21 centers across the nation, provides school supplies to teachers and students in low income schools free of charge through the generous donations of businesses. Phyllis Imel, who runs Teacher's Treasures, a Kids In Need affiliate in Indianapolis, most recently received 63 full sized keyboards from Wal-Mart, which in the past has provided drums, saxophones, flutes and a host of other musical equipment. The Indianapolis center alone has provided over $3 million in school supplies to 171 schools in Greater Indianapolis.

"You never really know what types of talent students have until you're able to expose them to it," Imel says. "If a child never has the opportunity to appreciate a guitar or a piano, we may have lost the chance at inspiring greatness - or more realistically, giving the child something they can call their own and keep them off the streets, off drugs, and in school."

The SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation Executive Director Kathy Spencer echoes the sentiments, and states, "If we stand together, we can do so much more. We can never spark the mind of a child if we don't try, and we can never change the environment and the communities without a solid educational foundation - be it musical instruments, pencils, or books - it's all about educating our future."

During Music in our Schools Month, the Foundation asks that marketing executives, sales executives, and community affairs professionals from businesses across the country find ways to support music education. Spencer adds that the Foundation continues to seek additional marketing partners to assist them in their mission of providing teachers and students with the right tools.

Music Education Facts:

-- Students provided with an arts education report better grades,

score better on standardized tests, and have lower dropout

rates.

-- Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra

reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances

- alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs.

-- Skills learned through the discipline of music transfer to

study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills

useful in every part of the curriculum. The discipline of

music study helps students learn to work effectively in the

school environment without resorting to violent or

inappropriate behavior.

-- A study of 237 second grade children used piano keyboard

training and newly designed math software to demonstrate

improvement in math skills. The group scored 27 percent higher

on proportional math and fractions tests than children that

used only the math software.

-- In an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data on more

than 25,000 secondary school students (NELS:88, National

Education Longitudinal Survey), researchers found that

students who report consistent high levels of involvement in

instrumental music over the middle and high school years show

"significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by

grade 12."

-- 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.

-- According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource

Center, students who can be classified as "disruptive" (based

on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in

trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given,

arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total

school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students

involved in music classes meet the same criteria as

"disruptive." -- Based on data from the NELS:88 (National

Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992.

-- Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988

showed that music participants received more academic honors

and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of

music participants receiving As, As/Bs, and Bs was higher than

the percentage of non- participants receiving those grades. --

NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education

Statistics, Washington DC

-- A study of 811 high school students indicated that the

proportion of minority students with a music teacher

role-model was significantly larger than for any other

discipline. 36 percent of these students identified music

teachers as their role models, as opposed to 28 percent

English teachers, 11 percent elementary teachers, 7 percent

physical education/sports teachers, 1 percent principals. --

D.L. Hamann and L.M. Walker, "Music teachers as role models

for African-American students," Journal of Research in Music

Education, 41, 1993

-- A University of California (Irvine) study showed that after

eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46

percent boost in their spatial reasoning IQ. -- Rauscher,

Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, "Music and Spatial Task

Performance: A Causal Relationship," University of California,

Irvine, 1994

-- In the Kindergarten classes of the school district of Kettle

Moraine, Wisconsin, children who were given music instruction

scored 48 percent higher on spatial-temporal skill tests than

those who did not receive music training. -- Rauscher, F.H.,

and Zupan, M.A. (1999). Classroom keyboard instruction

improves kindergarten children's spatial-temporal performance:

A field study. Manuscript in press, Early Childhood Research

Quarterly.

About the Kids In Need Foundation

SHOPA Kids In Need Foundation is a national non-profit organization providing school supplies to impoverished children and under-funded teachers. A 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1995 by the School, Home, & Office Products Association (SHOPA), the Foundation's mission is to recognize, promote, and support initiatives that foster educational excellence. The National Network of Kids in Need Resource Centers includes 21 facilities that allow teachers from low-income schools to obtain free school supplies for their students. In addition, Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to provide innovative learning opportunities for students. The SHOPA Kids in Need Foundation has distributed more than $200 million in school supplies since its founding, directly benefiting 1.3 million students and 75,000 teachers annually, and has awarded more than $660,000 in grants to teachers. For more information, visit www.kidsinneed.net.

About SHOPA

SHOPA, founded in 1991, is a nonprofit trade association representing nearly 1,000 manufacturers, manufacturer representatives, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, commercial/contract stationers, and service companies involved in the production, distribution, and sale of school supplies and office products. The Association also produces SBTS (SHOPA Buyer-to-Seller) Marketplace events, which facilitate pre-scheduled and one-on-one meetings. SHOPA, in cooperation with Messe Frankfurt and PROPAPER, is producing Paperworld USA in November, the international trade event for the school and office products industry. For more information, visit www.shopa.org.

Facts compiled by MENC Staff, Spring 2002. When using factual quotes, please be sure to cite individual research source which follows each quote/fact. Other text copy was authored by MENC Staff. When citing from these sections, please reference as: "Source: MENC--The National Association for Music Education "Music Education Facts and Figures." For further questions, contact info@menc.org.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category