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Influence of After School Music Programs

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Influence of After School Music Programs

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Research paper on the influence of after school programs on disadvantaged youth. Spoilers: survey data shows that students gained more friends doing after school music but most put the music as the reason why they attended.

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Copyright Law Reference (can be helpful if rewriting parts)

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Optional video/discussion: Alfie Kohn on Education and Music; posted July 21.

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Optional video/discussion: Alfie Kohn on Education and Music; posted July 21.

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If you want a little more of Alfie Kohn, he speaks about music education here.

My favorite quote:  "I'm certainly interested in having a doctor around if I'm having a heart attack, instead of having a violinist around, but we're not always having heart attacks and life is about more than building bridges or performing surgery."

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Watch/Read/Discuss: Making Students Work a Second Shift; posted July 21, due July 24.

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Watch/Read/Discuss: Making Students Work a Second Shift; posted July 21, due July 24.

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I first experienced Alfie Kohn back in 2012. He came to speak at my rural school's in-service and ticked half of the faculty off by telling us that grades and homework don't matter and can be damaging. He had math teachers yelling at him that homework was necessary for skill building. He responded by saying "there is no research anywhere that proves homework is beneficial." This made them even angrier.

I've certainly adopted some of his suggestions. Alfie is not a fan of the school dictating everyone's  life. However, this has been difficult to balance, especially in a low-income area where so many of my students and families depend on the school.

Alfie Kohn has also posted a lot about this on his website. Please visit this link to view his article in the National Association of Elementary School Principals journal. He urges principals to rethink homework. Spoiler: I don't they listened. https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/rethinking-homework/

There's a lot more to Alfie's thoughts on homework, but what initial thoughts come to your mind about assigning work outside of class and the school's role outside of the school's hours? Consider the role in the lives of low-income families.

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Alfie Kohn:  "Making students work a 'second shift'"

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Expectant and Parenting Young Families. Posted July 20.

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Expectant and Parenting Young Families. Posted July 20.

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Although teen pregnancy is on a decline, students raising students are still in need of resources, care, and guidance. If you teach in an area where this occurs, consider checking out the resource below. Of course, with most of my recommendations, I suggest speaking to the school guidance counselors and social workers to see what is already in place.

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Expectant and Parenting Young Families | Youth.gov

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In 2016, nearly 210,000 babies were born to women between ages 15 and 19. This represented an eight percent decrease in birth rates for this age group from 2015.1 The needs and wellbeing of expectant and parenting young people are an ongoing priority for local and federal programming and service pro…

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Have you ever had to advocate for a student in need? If so, please tell us what the specific issue was and how the process went. No situations are too big or small; consider items such as helping families negotiate for a new instrument, providing a job reference, college recommendations, living situation recommendations, and legal situations.

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Post-Secondary Financial Aid. Posted 7/20

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Post-Secondary Financial Aid. Posted 7/20

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The process of applying for and obtaining financial aid for college can be daunting. If you are not already familiar with today's FAFSA process, consider brushing up in order to help college or trade-school bound students. Additionally, becoming aware of area scholarships and having this information readily available can be helpful to your students and your program.

studentaid.gov is of course a good place to start, but some other sites do a good job of organizing the FAQs. Link to Nerdwallet's recently published FAFSA information.

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Filling out and submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or , is the key to getting financial aid to help pay for college if you or your family can't foot the entire bill.

The Education Department provides over $125 billion in aid to students each year. While the supply of cash isn't infinite, all eligible financial aid applicants can expect to get a piece of the pie.

The process - and the application itself - can be confusing, so here is a FAFSA faq that provides answers to questions you may have.

Yes. The FAFSA is free to fill out and submit. Be wary of companies that charge you to fill out the form.

The Education Department estimates it takes applicants less than an hour to fill out and submit the FAFSA. But it will take you longer if you're not prepared for the process with all required documentation and tax information.

You can use the FAFSA4caster tool to estimate the type and amount of aid you may be eligible to receive. Once you submit the FAFSA, you will get your Federal Student Aid report. It contains all the answers you provided on the FAFSA and the amount your family is expected to pay, known as your expected family contribution. If you don't have an EFC, your FAFSA likely contains an error that you need to correct. Colleges use the information in your report to determine the aid you qualify for.

After submitting your application

About the author: Anna Helhoski is a writer and NerdWallet's authority on student loans. Her work has appeared in The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. Read more

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Your FAFSA Questions Answered - NerdWallet

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Filling out and submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or , is the key to getting financial aid to help pay for college if you or your family can't foot the entire bill. The Education Department provides over $125 billion in aid to students each year.

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Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Posted July 20.

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Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Posted July 20.

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If you have students or families looking for advice or resources, check with your school guidance counselors first. If the counselors and community do not have resources, the Immigrant Legal Resource page is a good start. Information on immigration and citizenship are available, including practice tests for citizenship, legal resources, and books and trainings.

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Despite the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the DACA program, on July 28, 2020, the Trump administration issued a memo indicating USCIS will (1) reject all initial DACA applications; (2) reject all Advance Parole applications from DACA recipients unless there are exceptional circumstances; and (3) shorten the DACA renewal period from 2 years to 1 year. This means that the USCIS will not accept any new DACA initial applications and plans to reject and return all initial applications submitted to date, with filing fee.

Current DACA recipients should continue to renew their cases although their protection under deferred action and work permit will be valid for only one year instead of two. If you have questions about how you or someone you know may be impacted by this announcement, please visit the Ready CA Legal Directory or Immigration Advocates Network Legal Directory.

This is a deeply troubling development as President Trump again outrageously demonstrates his belief that he and his administration are above the law and shows the president's complete disregard for the individuals and communities who are affected by this announcement. Aspects of the memo will likely be subject to legal challenges. Further analysis and updates will be provided as soon as possible. The fight against Trump's anti-immigration agenda continues.

This practice alert provides a brief summary of temporary changes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made in response to COVID-19. Changes include plans for reopening USCIS facilities after suspending all in-person services, including interviews and biometrics appointments, from March 18 to June 3, 2020; automatic extensions for Requests for Evidence (RFEs), Notices of Intent...

On July 28, 2020 the Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum severely restricting the DACA program. Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision fully reinstating the program, the Trump administration has issued another attack on the program. This community alert gives a brief summary of memorandum and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Implementing Guidance issued on...

On July 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a memorandum instructing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to: 1) reject all initial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) requests from applicants who have not received DACA in the past; 2) reject all advance parole applications from DACA recipients except where there are "exceptional circumstances...

While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on June 18, 2020 should have restored the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in its entirety, a recent announcement by the Trump administration has once again thrown the program and DACA recipients into limbo. This resource goes over frequently asked questions to help orient the community of this new change with DACA program.

In this quick practice update, we alert practitioners to USCIS' publication of its fee schedule final rule, which proposes to drastically increase most fees, eliminate fee waivers for most applicants, and narrow fee waiver criteria, effective October 2, 2020.

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA/DAPA) | ILRC

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Despite the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the DACA program, on July 28, 2020, the Trump administration issued a memo indicating USCIS will (1) reject all initial DACA applications; (2) reject all Advance Parole applications from DACA recipients unless there are exceptional circumstances; and (3) shorten the DACA renewal period from 2 years to 1 year.

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A lengthy video but recommended viewing if you have ever worked with DACA students.

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Advocating for Students in Times in of Need

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Advocating for Students in Times in of Need

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Thanks for attending!

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Continuation: Discussion: How Much Time on One Unit or Piece?

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Continuation: Discussion: How Much Time on One Unit or Piece?

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How much time is too much time to prepare a piece or unit? Do we want to play a wide variety of music at the classes level or slightly above, or should we let our students go after a really difficult piece over an extended period of time?

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Continuation: Coalition Aerosol Study Preliminary Results. Posted July 14

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Continuation: Coalition Aerosol Study Preliminary Results. Posted July 14

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Chances are you've heard about the "Colorado study" if you follow any of the music education facebook pages. Andrew Van emailed me this:
"Preliminary results of the Coalition Aerosol study being led by NFHS and CBDNA have been posted.  When reading the study, please note that the results are VERY preliminary and have not yet been peer reviewed and so should not be taken as "definitive". But there ARE many nuggets available now to us. You can find those results here: https://www.nfhs.org/articles/unprecedented-international-coalition-led-by-performing-arts-organizations-to-commission-covid-19-study/

Please share this with the group as it applies to just about everyone in some way and it hints at what types of precautions we are going to need to take in just a few weeks, like designing a mask with an elastic center hole for mouthpieces."
(note: the website has been periodically having trouble loading, so I attached a PDF). Detailed results for choir and drama will be available within the next two weeks.

This will be the ultimate adaptability for us. After reviewing the general considerations that start on page 41, what are the major concerns you have with your own program?

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Some posts have been transferred to this week to continue discussions.

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Some new discussions this week in addition to a continuation of a few popular topics. Two weeks to go! Please feel free to continue sending on your final projects for feedback. I will provide responses within 24 hours.

Reminder that our meeting with Roosevelt is tomorrow at 3pm CST. The session will be recorded and posted for those of you unable to attend.