Common Core Music: How often and how long?

[nafmeadmin]

For Pre-K through 5th grades, I remember finding a resource that said a “quality music program” was 45 minutes twice a week. Can anyone point me to that info?

Right now I have 40 minutes per class (or less for the late arrivals) and only once a week. Which for our district is amazing. All the other schools have a sing-a-long for 30 minutes and only for one semester a year!

I know we’ll never get funding to expand our class length, but I want to have something in writing that shows we cannot possibily meet all the standards when we have less than half the required class time. Though we do come very close!

Thanks for the help.

Kitty >^..^<

[nafmeadmin]

Hi Kitty!
So I found this link on the NAfME site, itself. It doesn’t exactly address your worries over your schedule, but I know that you are definitely not alone in your concerns. Quality music instruction should be considered part of the core schedule for every student in your school. My suggestion would be to start rattling the fences and see if you can get some buy-in to increasing music instruction. Find out from your administrators what the targeted minutes of instruction in EACH subject area are (Math, Reading, Intervention groups, etc) , and then work up a sample schedule within your own school. Be prepared to talk the “advocacy talk” with your school. Parents and community members can also be a big help. I’m hoping that you are also familiar with your local music EA leadership, and they might have some great resources and help for you.

Good luck, and please let us know how it’s going!

Specialized Music Instruction (Position Statement)

[nafmeadmin]

Check out the NAfME Opportunity to Learn Standards – they are quite specific as to amounts of time recommended as a percentage of the school day, and appropriate class lengths at various ages. They can be found here on the NAfME website.

Also, check and see if your state has specific requirements – many do!

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