Avoca School District 37 has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from the NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to school districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement to provide music access and education to all students.
To qualify for the Best Communities designation, members of the music faculty answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, and support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. In addition, everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to perceiving speech in a noisy background, paying attention, and keeping sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound, young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and giving and receiving constructive criticism.
About the Best Communities for Music Education Award Program
The Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) Award is a signature program of The NAMM Foundation that recognizes and celebrates school districts and schools for their support and commitment to music education and their efforts to ensure access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education. Throughout the program's 25 years, the foundation has recognized over 1,000 school districts and schools, combined, in 43 states.
The schools and communities recognized by the Best Communities for Music Education demonstrate a commitment to ensuring music learning opportunities are available for every student and provide an example for other communities to follow. The impact of The NAMM Foundation's Best Communities for Music Education award is unique and different for each recipient, although all recipients report the sense of pride, joy and respect it brings to their communities.
