Why Here? Why Now?

- Music embedded in
community culture
- Effective city and
school leaders who
value music education
- Alignment of interests
- Allied partners poised
to take action
- Strong foundation of
existing music education
at MNPS
- Nashville IS Music City
Who is MNPS?

- 83,000 students
- 42nd largest in U.S.
- 154 schools
- No majority demographic
- 73% economically disadvantaged
- 79% Title I
- 120 languages spoken
 Theory of Change
For students to have
opportunity and access to
the benefits of quality
music education, we must:

Engage more students

Offer music classes that
reflect our diverse
community
Restore and strengthen
traditional chorus, band
and orchestra
 Research
Students with more than 1
year of music:
52% more likely to
graduate on time
7% more likely to
come to school each
day
Earn a 15% higher
grade point average
Score 16% higher on
ACT-English and 9%
higher on ACT-Math
In the first years
40 contemporary
classes
Recording studio
and student-run
record label
Band at all middle
schools
1,000 instruments
Teacher Advisory
Council
 A Crucial Piece
Total public spending:$15-20M/annually
Private investment:
$1M from CMA/KTMP
$500K other private investment
5% 2%
Martha Ingram
Gibson
Big Machine
The Recording Academy
Curb Records
Warner Music Nashville
NAMM
More 93%
 Producing Results

Near-Term:
Show increased participation
 Producing Targets

Results Increase # schools auditioning for Mid-State

26

Increase # students auditioning for Mid- State 612

Medium-Term:
294
Sustained participation, tackle Increase # students selected for Mid-State
quality.
Increase # ensembles participating in Middle TN 32
Performance Assessment

15
Increase # ensembles receiving superior assessment in
Middle TN & State Performance Assessment

Deploy robust teacher evaluation system (TN Fine Arts 90%

Growth Model Assessment) as means of setting clear deployment
benchmark against which teacher quality can be SY14-15
measured and acted upon
 Producing Results
Implementation
of data dashboard to
track progress against
Preludes benchmark
Long-Term:
study and additional
Prepare students for college and
career. metrics
Sustain quality music and arts
education for future
generations.

Ongoing research/analysis
to track connection
between investment in
music education and
student achievement,
engagement and overall
impact
 Laurie T. Schell
Director, Music Makes Us
Laurie.schell@mnps.org
615.259.8770
www.musicmakesus.org