South Orange-Maplewood Schools Earns 'Best Music Education' Award

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange-Maplewood School District recently earned a 2019 award for "Best Communities for Music Education" from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).

The honor, given out by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation, recognizes school districts that make music education a core part of its curriculum. This is the 20th year that schools have been recognized. This year's group includes 623 districts across 41 states.

"It's worth noting that we have some school communities that have received this recognition year-after-year. A few have been there for 20 years," said Mary Luehrsen, from the NAMM Foundation. "But, every year, new schools and districts are upping their game when it comes to music and the arts, often despite budget and curriculum pressures."

Schools are evaluated based on funding, staffing, standards of education and access to education. This year, an additional survey was also used in selecting honorees.

NAMM stresses the importance of music education, nothing that a 2018 report from the Arts Education Partnership and co-sponsored by the Country Music Foundation and The NAMM Foundation, found that students who studied music also did better in English, math and science, and that schools with strong music programs saw fewer drop-outs.

"Even with compounding evidence of the benefits and importance of music education, many music education programs are not adequately funded and struggling for adequate resources for their proper place in the curriculum," confirmed Luehrsen. "The Best Community districts and SupportMusic schools show what can be done when teachers, school and community leaders, and parents all agree that music is essential and not optional as a learning force that must be available to all students. We dream of the day when all districts aspire to earn this distinction."

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