3 What Should Children Know?
Martina Vasil; Chris McDowell; and Kellie Moses
When determining the content of your curriculum for elementary music, there are several things to consider:
- The National Core Arts Standards.
- Local standards established by your school or district, which may have been based on the old National standards that were established by the National Association for Music Education.
- Your students; they may have had inconsistent instruction and may not be where national or local standards say they should be. You should make adjustments as necessary.
National Core Arts Standards
The United States does not have a national music curriculum like some countries (i.e., England), but in 2011, The National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS), an alliance of national arts and and arts education organizations, formed to create national core arts standards for the US. At the time of development, teachers and other stake-holders were contacted to provide input. I had just started my doctoral program in 2011, but I remember getting those emails and providing my input. It was pretty cool to contribute to something like that.
The main webpage for the National Core Arts Standards is here: https://nationalartsstandards.org/
They organized the standards into four threads to reflect the way musicians think and work. That is, you will not see a standard like this “Students will identify a quarter note.” The standards are not focused on the WHAT, but the HOW (process over product). The National Core Arts Standards are organized into four processes, with 11 Anchor Standards.On the NCAS website, you can customize your own handbook, according to what you are teaching. For example, I customized it to be only for Prek–5 music, which is the focus for this class. Click here to view.
Local Standards
Whenever you observe schools for practicum, you may notice that either they use the NCAS or have standards based on them, such as the Kentucky Academic Standards for Visual and Performing Arts. If not, they may follow other standards: the old national music standards, teacher-chosen standards, or standards established by the school district or school.
Your Students
You will be observing students at different schools in practicum, and you will discover that the standards being met will not be the same. A part of this is because teachers work to meet students where they are, which does not always mean they are where the standards say they “should” be. Is that okay? YES. The most important thing is you meet students where they are, see their potential, and help them love music and enjoy making music in community.
Students over Standards
Meeting your students where they ARE, not where the standards say they “SHOULD BE” is your top priority.
Further, especially since the pandemic, many elementary music teachers have commented that students seems to be performing at one or two grade levels below the actual grade they are in. For example, fifth graders are able to m