On August 22, 2008, I attended a presentation given by a leading speaker about RtI, a relatively new initiative. It is in the process of being implemented in schools across the country. The following are thoughts I wrote later that day..
Research shows that the number one intervention proven to improve students skills is time…time in core instruction, not specialized instruction. In other words, if a student is falling behind in reading, the most important thing for that student to receive is more instruction time in the subject area–not necessarily different instruction, but more of the same! (Although improving the quality of core instruction is often necessary as well.) One possible example given was a school setting where many students need more time in core instruction. In the example, only about 50% of the student population were successful with the existing schedule: 90 minutes of reading/language arts instruction each day. According to the data and research, in order for that school to reach the desired 80% of its population reaching proficiency, they needed to build a school schedule with about 180 daily minutes of core reading instruction! If I remember correctly, 90 minutes a day is required by the state of IL.
As a teacher of the arts, I see scheduling for music, orchestra, band, chorus, visual arts, etc, as a major issue. However, I can’t deny that in the society in which we live, many students are in dire need of more instruction in reading, especially at the elementary levels, in order to help those students be successful later in life.
Is the problem going away? I don’t think so. In my opinion, blaming parents doesn’t help; blaming administrators doesn’t help; blaming the state or federal government doesn’t help. Complaining about how the schools don’t value music anymore isn’t the answer either.
Are the arts an important part of students’ education? YES. Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind gives implicit reasons for us to consider the arts a vital part of a child’s education. That being said, schools ARE changing how they schedule their days based on newer data and research. The way public education has approached these problems in the past hasn’t worked. Schools are scrambling to reach the desired 95% “meeting and exceeding” by 2014.
Possibly the way music educators view their jobs also needs to change. Change…not an easy thing to even consider. Maybe what is required most is for music teachers to collaborate with the whole school community. Perhaps we need to better educate ourselves about the issues rather than assuming they don’t involve us. Maybe we need to think in terms of the Win-Win problem solving that Stephen Covey advocates in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Maybe the solution is already beginning at the university level where music teachers are being trained?
What is the immediate answer for the elementary music teacher who is told a number of students will miss music class regularly because of RtI requirements? What is the answer if whole school systems (CPS for example) rarely offer ensembles during the school day at the lower grade levels? I don’t know. But the problem isn’t going away…
After being involved as a reading “interventionist” now for several months in my new job, I see first hand the benefits of giving lagging students more instructional time. However, I worry about the possible negative effects on fine arts programs because of the resulting scheduling issues. I’m interested in hearing how the RtI initiative is affecting other public school teachers in the arts.
Note: The numbers and percentages quoted on August 22 were written from memory several hours after the presentation. I wouldn’t stake my life on their accuracy!
2 responses so far ↓
Barbara Ellingsen // February 7, 2009 at 6:33 pm
RtI has not affected my music program. However, in the attempt to fit the reading intervention block into the day without disrupting the special area subjects, my plan time has been affected. I have plan time that is cut into 10 minute blocks, and there is nothing I can do to change it. Most of my planning now takes place on my own time at home. I don’t think this will improve over time, as schedules become even tighter. In fact, there is talk about changing music from two 30 minute classes per week to just one 40 minute class, dismissing half the music department, and making the others travel between two to three schools each.
Bonnie Brown // February 9, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I certainly hope the RtI interventions don’t affect the time students receive instruction in music at your school. Please keep us posted with what happens, Barb. Thanks for reading!