Starting a Coalition Finding the time to start or maintain a Coalition for Music Education in your town or school district is obviously difficult, especially for the first year teacher. The good news is that the music teacher should NEVER be perceived as the person in charge of such an endeavor because it appears to the community, school administrators and school boards that you are interested in job preservation. Coalition building must be conceived as proactive not reactive. If you are forming a coalition to save a music program currently under fire you may not be effective. Many high school music teachers think they don’t need a coalition because they have band or choral parent booster clubs. This is far from reality. The purpose of parent clubs is generally fund raising for instruments, uniforms and trips, and equipment and scholarships. These groups don’t have adequate time to promote the benefits of music education, it is not part of their job description and furthermore, they do not have the professional resources/education to launch such a campaign. Furthermore, they also only represent one small segment of the district K-12 music program. Why do we need a coalition? Because educational reform with its "Back to Basic" mentality is here to stay whether we like it or not. The driving force in politics (and whether or not we want to admit it, we are dealing with politics) is not money and privilege, but POWER. Power comes from the constituents, those members of a community and school or legislative district who hold the power of the vote! For professional associations, such as CMEA, with an advocacy agenda that includes public policy, the power of coalitions must not be overlooked. The National Coalition for Music Education, a coalition of an education (MENC), a trade (NAMM), and a professional association (NARAS) has succeeded in redefining the arts as a "core," academic subject in federal education reform legislation (Goals 2000: Educate America Act, 1994) and a major force in the movement to get the National Standards for Arts Education adopted by the states. What is a Coalition all about? educating parents, administrators, school boards, community and business leaders about the importance of music (and the other arts) in the K-12 curriculum, maintaining a healthy and balanced district music program with a strong philosophical foundation which provides a substantive and sequential education in music learning. (notice I said "music learning" not to be confused with "music performance". That’s another soapbox for another time) The Role of the Music Teacher in Advocacy Obviously the music teacher must provide the impetus for developing a coalition and once one is established should serve as an advisor. Responsibilities in that capacity include: informing the coalition board of recent developments in education at the local, state, or national level which may potentially have positive or negative effects on the music program, maintaining a current bibliography of pertinent documents and books from MENC and the National Coalition for Music Education for use by the coalition in their advocacy efforts, educating members as to what constitutes a substantive and sequential K-12 Music program, (this is the tough one) developing and promoting awareness of The National Standards for Arts Education and the CA state Framework for the Visual and Performing Arts, informing members of current research supporting music education. What are the secrets of getting people involved? Most Americans care but they do not know how to "care" effectively. As seen in the 1997 Gallup Poll, Americans believe music can make a unique contribution to children’s lives. When it comes to allocating the funds, however, we run into a stumbling block. For concern to emerge as effective action, several things have to happen. First, leadership is essential. Then leaders have to provide the information, organization, and strategy that will enlist "the troops" and assist them in changing the situation. While most people feel a sense of responsibility to support things they deem important, many are afraid that the magnitude of the problem is too big to effect a change. Instead, they say they are too busy or convince themselves that someone somewhere with more resources and experience than themselves is taking care of matters. Furthermore, many people simply lack the practical information, resources, support, and "tools" to care effectively. You must translate the problem into something specific that each person can do. You can’t energize people by asking them to "take on" the school district, but you can usually get them to say "yes" to one task that is well within their reach. That means the first task must be small and manageable such as make 20 phone calls, address 100 envelopes, write a few letters, talk to a principal, or hold a social event at their home. Next, you must find a "leverage" point. Leverage points are more effective than money or coercion and sometimes only a small amount of pressure can make the biggest difference. For example: (1) identify the real decision maker(s); (2) identify what the decision maker needs that you can provide; and (3) identify who controls access to the decision maker. Analyze your Situation Your school district could be in one of three situations: (1) crisis (reactive); (2) correction (proactive); and (3) commitment (preemptive). You never want to be in "crisis" mode. The objective in this mode is survival of the program as it is about to be cut or eliminated and teachers are receiving pink slips. In the crisis mode you are "reactive" meaning there is no time to organize for the long term as you try to stop the financial avalanche and buy time. The "correction" mode is between crisis and commitment and its objective is alliance building. At this level you are "proactive" meaning you are monitoring school board and individual school site-based management agendas, budget, and district/individual school site reform agendas. You are developing a "case" for music education, meeting regularly with school decision makers, becoming a "permanent policy participant," and building informed and educated decision-making in the community into the educational debate. In the "commitment" mode your objective is a permanent policy presence and your efforts are "preemptive." Your music programs/curricula are well established but need continuous support and enhancement. You recruit new supporters, continue to organize advocacy efforts, and build security for your program. You must NEVER become complacent at this level! You must carefully and truthfully analyze the music program in your school district. Does the music program have a philosophy/mission statement? Is it in alignment with the district philosophy? Does your district have a balanced, substantive and sequential K-12 music curriculum? That means do you have an elementary general music program that prepares students for participation in elective performance ensembles, technology programs, and non-performance classes? Do you provide students with the opportunity to experience all facets of performance in a music program from show choir, large choral ensembles, musicals, select choral groups, marching band, concert band, jazz band, chamber ensembles, wind ensembles, string orchestra, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, chamber ensembles. What music courses do you offer at the middle school level in the "wheel?" Do you offer music history, music theory, and AP classes at the high school level? Is your district music curriculum IN PRINT and has it been recognized/adopted by the school board? To begin your analysis the following documents available from MENC will be both helpful and necessary: (1) The School Music Program: Descriptions and Standards; (2) The National Standards for Arts Education; and (3) from the CDE, The Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public School, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. These documents provide curriculum guidelines (What every child should know and be able to do in music) as well as facility and equipment needs. Your administrators and school board want NUMBERS! The most important part of your analysis is to determine the number/percentage of students that the music program serves at each individual school site and the school district as a whole. Next, determine the FTE’s for music teachers vs. non-music teachers. Make yearly projections regarding the number of students who should continue their music instruction/performance from middle school through high school based on participation in elementary programs. Review actual numbers of students yearly making the transition from grade 5 to grade 6 (or grade 6 to grade 7 depending on your middle school structure), and from grade 8 to grade 9. Determine the percentage of drop-outs and identify reasons why? Fix the problem! Keep accurate records!Track the GPA’s of all music students and determine the average GPA. Check STAR test results…how do your music students compare with non-music students? Track the number of music students taking the SAT’s and their scores…how do they compare to national statistics? How many of your seniors go on to college and what colleges will they be attending. Evaluate this information in terms of the ethnic/cultural demographics of your school. (By the way, your school district profile with much of this information is located on the Educational Data Partnership Web Site.) What? You don’t have time to do this? If you don’t, you may find yourself paying John Benham to complete such an analysis when you are in the Crisis Mode! All of this information can be entered, manipulated, and stored in Microsoft Excel. Developing the Coalition: Carefully select coalition membership from your community. Look for new, and possibly unlikely, allies to support the music program. Create a compelling reason for members to become involved and retain that involvement. Carefully and truthfully analyze the music situation in your school district. (Use MENC publications, state arts framework, National Standards for Arts Education) Identify "what" the organization desires to become in the long-term. Express the coalition’s "reason for being" and its basic organizational identity. (Establish a Preamble/Mission Statement) Define the "scope" of intended coalition pursuits. (General Objectives) Create an immediate focus and develop an action plan for each general objective. Never stop organizing!