Hillary Nestor's List: Music and Test Scores

• Music helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. When he could not figure out the right wording for a certain part, he would play his violin to help him. The music helped him get the words from his brain onto the paper.
• Music was the key that helped Albert Einstein become one of the smartest men who has ever lived. Einstein himself says that the reason he was so smart is because he played the violin.
• Music is thought to link all of the emotional, spiritual, and physical elements of the universe. Music can also be used to change a person's mood, and has been found to cause like physical responses in many people simultaneously. Music also has the ability to strengthen or weaken emotions from a particular event such as a funeral.
• Mozart's music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activate the left and right brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, causes the brain to be more capable of processing information.
• High school students who study music have higher grade point averages that those who don't. These students also develop faster physically. Student listening skills are also improved through music education.

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• Children in the intervention school (n=46) studied piano formally for a period of three consecutive years as part of a comprehensive instructional intervention program. Children attending the control school (n=57) received no formal musical training on any musical instrument and had never taken music lessons as part of their general school curriculum or in private study.
• Results analyzed at the end of the year showed that the music-learning group had significantly better vocabulary and verbal sequencing scores than did the non-music-learning control group.
• Study of how music may also assist cognitive development will help education practitioners go beyond the sometimes hazy and ill-defined ‘music makes you smarter’ claims and provide careful and credible instructional approaches that use the rich and complex conceptual structure of music and its transfer to other cognitive areas

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• Jennifer Warner, WebMD writer, reported on a study in 2007 that suggests music education is more effective in enhancing children's communication skills than studying phonics. The study showed that the same set of skills needed in the brain and nervous system for talking and reading are improved by musical training.
• simply listening to music can increase reading skills and comprehension.
• students who play music or take music appreciation classes significantly increase their SAT scores.
• Compared with students who did not participate in the arts, music students scored between 53 and 61 points higher on the verbal section of the SAT.

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• he main culprit has been fiscal crises affecting school districts. There also have been changes to schools' curricula that have emphasized other programs (such as standardized testing) that have cut into music education.
• Other schools have seen their music programs dwindle over the years due to the addition of other requirements. These include foreign languages and standardized testing.
• "It helps with everything from improving hand-eye coordination, fostering teamwork (as it often involves playing an instrument or singing with an ensemble), and it teaches discipline. Also, some kids may be more successful in music than academically, so it serves as a great confidence builder."
• Studies published in The Journal of Research in Music Education report that elementary-aged students who participate in music programs score higher in reading, math, language, and overall achievement tests.

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• Music in schools often has a very limited budget and is often seen as an easy cut to make when cutting costs.
• This limits teachers in their ability to provide students with the best education because they do not always have the funding available for the students' needs.
• Children who are involved in music from a younger age tend to have better development of the language areas of the brain.
• Music provides students with a better understanding of the world around them. When student learn music, they have the opportunity to learn about different cultures.
• Music programs result in better grades in school. Because music requires students to think creatively and solve problems to play the music, the thinking patterns spill over into other school subjects, resulting in better understanding and grades.

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• the trend towards cutting funds for music programs is an alarming one. While athletics are rarely touched, music is often the first to go. Elementary students no longer have the opportunity to learn an instrument or sing in a chorus.
• More and more scientific studies have touted the advantages of a music education and the reasons for saving these programs, yet unless parents make a fuss about cutbacks, little is done to spare them. 
• Music is an obvious outlet for self-expression and creativity.  
• Organizational skills increase and the child learns what it takes to be “good” at something. 
• Ensemble experience also builds teamwork. Band members or choristers learn the importance of being a reliable member of a group and are educated as to the importance of being a team player and not necessarily always “the star.”
• The child who is skilled at music excels at problem-solving, evaluation, and analysis.
• music can serve to build self-esteem.
• “music kids” are less likely to become involved with inappropriate habits, like drinking or drug use. A child that spends his after school time in the band room with others who enjoy similar interests rarely gets entangled in destructive habits. 

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• The rush to improve reading, writing, and arithmetic test scores are pushing school districts to drop or disregard the importance of an integrated arts program, especially a music curriculum.
• The connection between music and human development begins at infancy. It is quite common for babies to respond to the rhythmical tones of their mother’s voices.
• Children’s songs are the enrichment of language, counting and the expression of emotion.
• children’s song “Ten Little Indians” teaches the basic skills of math:
• out of five-hundred-thousand students in forty-five countries that students in the United States were below average in mathematics
• test group of fourteen to seventeen-year-old students consisting of seventeen countries that the United States ranked fourteenth in academic achievement
• the United States began a push back to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic; however, they have neglected the arts as a subject that can influence academic achievement.
• School districts struggle to retain federal funding and the arts seem to be the first subjects cut from their curriculums.
• Hungary, Japan, and the Netherlands all use music as a part of their regular education curriculum
• Bronx, New York, was destined to close because of poor attendance and test scores, but the principal changed the curriculum to reflect an arts-based system and is now one of three schools in the New York area with ninety-percent of its students that are reading at the correct grade level
• Students who have made the personal choice to become involved in music have shown to do better academically than opposed to students who are not involved with a music program
• Until the recent panic to raise scores and to compete with student achievement in other countries with methods that are simply not working, music was common in the classroom
• The federal government also ties test results and student performance to funding for school systems
• Educators are forced and pressured to conform and teach to the test, which is connected to financial aid.
• If Americans wish to compete in a shrinking world, due to technology and modern advances, against the promising students from other countries, then they need to learn from the best and follow through with music in America’s school curriculum

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