12 Education Policy
Martina Vasil
In recent years, the teaching profession has been in the thick of political debates and new laws. It can be hard to know which way is up during this time. This chapter serves to summarize some recent developments in education policy and provides recommendations for how to navigate it all.
Music Education for All Children
In 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which stated that music is essential to a student’s education. This was a change from the No Child Left Behind Act, which was narrowly focused on academic achievement in a few subjects, such as reading and math.
Looking even further back in US educational policy history, the ESSA is considered the new version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was originally signed into law by President Johnson in 1965. The purpose of ESEA was to provide additional funding and programs to serve low-income students (typically in what they call Title I schools) and allow state and local agencies (like state MEAs and school districts) to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education. The current ESSA is similar. The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) has provided a toolkit here, if you are interested in learning more.
See below for passages from ESSA about music. You can also read the whole thing here.
Sec. 8002. DEFINITIONS
Section 8101, as redesignated and amended by section 8001 of this Act, is further amended—
(21) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(52) WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION.—The term ‘well-rounded education’ means courses, activities, and programming in subjects such as English, reading or language arts, writing, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography, computer science, music, career and technical education, health, physical education, and any other subject, as determined by the State or local educational agency, with the purpose of providing all students access to an enriched curriculum and educational experience.’’
SEC. 4104. STATE USE OF FUNDS
(b) STATE ACTIVITIES.—Each State that receives an allotment under section 4103 shall use the funds available under subsection (a)(3) for activities and programs designed to meet the purposes of this subpart, which may include—
(3) supporting local educational experiences to all students, as described in section 2107, including female students, minority students, English learners, children with disabilities, and low-income students who are often underrepresented in critcial and enriching subjects, which may include—
(i) increasing student access to and improving student engagement and achievement in—
(II) activities and programs in music and the arts;
SEC. 4107. ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
(a) IN GENERAL—Subject to section 4106(f), each local educational agency, or consortium of such agencies, that receives an allocation under section