NCSD Elementary Arts Education

The North Clackamas School District (NCSD) takes pride in its ability to offer music, arts and physical education to students at every education level. We are one of only nine Oregon school districts (out of nearly 200) that offer orchestra to our students. Due to budget cuts over the past five years, NCSD has eliminated 25% of our teaching and 25% of administrative positions, while serving the same number of students. Even with these budget cuts, NCSD preserved music classes at all levels.

Every student in the North Clackamas district deserves the same access to educational opportunities, regardless of which school they attend.  To ensure that the music programs at each of our elementary schools offer the same educational experience, during the 2012-13 school year we worked with our music teachers to decide what instruments were needed to present our music curriculum adequately and create an “ideal” music classroom. We then audited the music rooms of every district school to create an inventory of what instruments were need to ensure that all schools have a complete set. The result of this audit shows that there is a disparity in the number and types of musical instruments available to students in each of our classrooms.  To ensure that each student has the instruments they need to participate in class, a total of $115,000 is needed to purchase additional instruments.

The goals and objectives for the music program are to ensure that each music learner becomes a responsible student with essential music knowledge, concepts and performance experiences. NCSD has standards for kindergarten through sixth grade music education that align with Music Educators National Conference (MENC) standards. All district third grade students take a written exam to ensure that these standards are being met. In a time when districts nationwide are cutting music, NCSD sees this program as an important piece of our students’ education, just like math or reading.

Through generous corporate and individual donations NCEF raised $20,000 to purchase drums and keyboards for all elementary music classrooms. Now we are reaching out to parents, foundations, corporation and community members to increase this number and purchase the other musical instruments needed to make sure the music classroom in each elementary school is equally equipped. The $115,000 needed to complete the project will equip our students with the instruments they need to participate fully and be effective in their music classrooms.