To help you plan your teaching and support your music education advocacy efforts, NAfME offers the following resources.

Get an overview from NAfME leadership and staff by watching the National Rally for Music Education, recorded on June 25, 2020.  

• Music Education Policy Roundtable FY24 Legislative Agenda. Highlights the value of music education as part of a well-rounded education for each child and communicates NAfME’s position on issues at the federal level
• ESSER Funding Toolkit 2023. Information for music educators, music education advocates, and school administrators regarding the historic levels of federal funding currently making their way to schools and how these funds can be used to support music education. 
• Guidance from NAfME and NFHS on Music Education in Fall 2020. Practical guidance for PreK-12 schools as administrators and music educators as they seek to provide meaningful music instruction for students of all ages and grade levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Updated August 2021)
• Arts ARE Education National Campaign. This collaborative campaign by multiple disciplines in music and other arts education will emphasize funding, maintaining, and growing PreK–12 arts education programs in the 2021–22 school year and beyond.
• Sharing Best Practice Ideas with the US Department of Education. Under Secretary Miguel Cardona, the U.S. Department of Education is seeking best practices from educators teaching during the pandemic. These practices will be shared in a “Best Practices Clearinghouse” that focuses on ways to engage all students whether virtual, hybrid, or in-person. Watch this webinar to learn more, and download the template to submit your ideas.
• Arts Education Is Essential. As policymakers plan for school reopening in the fall, NAfME joined more than 100 other organizations in a statement that supports an arts education for all students.
• Research Study on the effects of COVID-19 on the rehearsal hall. The study will examine aerosol rates produced by wind instrumentalists, vocalists, and even actors, and how quickly those aerosol rates accumulate in a space. 
• Copyright Information:
  • Copyright Permissions for Performance Released by NAfME and the NFHS on December 10, 2020.
  • TEACH Act Explained – Copyright Guidance for Distance Learning Released by NAfME and the NFHS on September 10, 2020.
• Music and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). Research tells us that music educators are well-suited to help students develop socially and emotionally. 
  • How can public policy support music education and Social Emotional Learning? (brochure)
  • Music Education and SEL: An Advocacy Tool for Music Educators (brochure)
  •  Virtual Congressional Briefing: Music, Arts, and Social-Emotional Learning: Working Together for Positive Student Outcomes. 
• COVID-19 Instrument Cleaning Guidelines. The NFHS, NAfME and the NAMM Foundation recommendations for handling musical instruments during the COVID-19 school shutdown period.
• Local Advocacy Action Plan 2022. This resource is intended to aid music educators and music education supporters as they seek to improve the overall condition of a music program.
• Civic Action Field Guide. This field guide will help music educators and other education advocates better understand the processes behind how public education is governed and funded, with an eye toward supporting high-quality music education in districts and at the state level across the nation.

For more information about your state and LEA’s reopening plans:

• School Districts’ Reopening Plans: A Snapshot
• State-by-State Map of Where School Buildings Are Opened or Closed

Grassroots Advocacy Resources

• Everything ESSA page and resources
• Grassroots Advocacy Inventory
• Society for Music Teacher Education Policy E-Kit
• Find your state advocacy leadership
• Title IV-A Success Stories
• Organizing a State Advocacy Day
• Parents – 5 Ways to Support Your Music Program
• Connecting with Legislators
• Key Federal Education Members
• Public Relations 101
• Quick review of How a Bill Becomes a Law
• 2014 Standards State Implementation Toolkit
• NAfME Field Guide to State Lobbying
• Concert Program Advocacy Inserts for Teachers:
  • Concert Program advocacy insert for parents, and option 2

 

For more information and assistance, contact advocacy@nafme.org. Visit NAfME COVID-19 Resources and News for all the latest NAfME COVID-19-related resources, including virtual professional development opportunities.