Music in Education: State standards say little about music in public schools

Administrators decide how much time students will spend with music teachers and who is hired to teach music at a school.

“High schools are required to provide access to fine arts, but there’s a very strong difference between providing it as an offering and actually supporting it through ensuring that every school student participates in it,” Velayo said.

While a high school student may have the option to take band or choir, there may not be a requirement to enroll in a fine arts course.

Currently, only one diploma available to Indiana students makes fine arts a requirement. To graduate with an academic honors diploma, students must take two fine arts credits, and the State Board of Education almost dropped even those two credits when diploma changes were considered this year. The board of education has since tabled the discussion on altering Indiana’s diplomas.

“That only addresses the high school level,” Velayo pointed out. “While we know fine arts is offered at the middle school and elementary level, are schools hiring certified and licensed music educators, or are they taking an educator that happens to play the piano and trying to put that round peg in a square hole?”

State standards

At the Monroe County Community School Corp., all the music teachers in the district are certified teachers licensed in music, according to Peggy Chambers, assistant superintendent.