WINNING SOUNDS
District honored with Best Communities for Music Education designation
The Ballston Spa Central School District has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
Ballston Spa is one of 4 percent of districts across the nation receiving the prestigious award in 2017, a news release said.
The Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. To qualify for the Best Communities designation, Ballston Spa answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
“Receiving this national recognition demonstrates how music education is important to our students, our district and our school community,” said Joseph P. Dragone, Superintendent of Schools, in a news release. “It serves as a credit to our teachers for all the great things they do to make a positive impact on our students through outstanding opportunities in music education.”
This award recognizes that Ballston Spa is leading the way with music learning opportunities as outlined in the new federal education legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, the release said. The legislation, signed into law in December 2015 and awaiting state implementation, designates music and the arts as important elements of well-rounded education for all children.
As Ballston Spa finalizes its 2017-18 budget, The NAMM Foundation’s Best Communities for Music Education Award and the state level implementation of the federal ESSA law bring attention to the importance of keeping music education part of curriculum offerings and available to all students. It also highlights music’s vital role in students’ overall success in school and the personal benefits of making music.
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. In a series of landmark studies by scientists and researchers at Northwestern University a link was found between students in community music programs and life-long academic success, including higher high school graduation rates and college attendance. In another study from the university it was discovered that the benefits of early exposure to music education improve how the brain processes and assimilates sounds, a trait that lasts well into adulthood, the release said.
The Ballston Spa Central School District recently celebrated Music in Our Schools month with several special events, including an annual Pops Concert for the school community, acknowledging students who have performed in state and regional Honors Groups at a Board of Education meeting and hosting a combined Middle School & High School Jazz Band concert. Additional information about the music program in the Ballston Spa schools is available on the department’s webpages via www.bscsd. org or call 884-7150.