Jeffco's Music Education Program Receives National Recognition
Jeffco Public Schools has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education for the past three years. Now in its 23rd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music: After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.
Celebrating Our Own
Avrial Turner has been named the 2022 Colorado Music Educator Association (CMEA) Outstanding Young Music Educator! This is a prestigious and well-deserved honor. She was nominated for her significant impact on the music education and social and emotional well-being of her students, and her dedication to equity, diversity and inclusion in our district music programs. Avrial is in her 3rd year of teaching, and is currently at Kyffin Elementary.
Conifer Tri-M National Award
Congratulations to the Conifer HS Tri-M students and their sponsor Sean Carnter on being awarded the 2021-2022 State Tri-M Chapter of the Year Award for Colorado! This award is presented by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Music Honor Society Advisory Council in recognition for outstanding contribution to the music program, the school, and to the entire Conifer community.