The Immersive Music Challenge (IMC) is an implementation study that seeks to illustrate the impact immersive music instruction and music-based mentoring can have on the academic performance and social-emotional wellbeing of children from low-income communities. The D'Addario Foundation has engaged three Implementation Partners across five school districts and has enlisted an outside evaluation team to conduct this five-year study.
Music-based mentoring significantly improves language-related brain development and literacy in elementary-age students.
Students who participated in music-mentoring achieved significantly higher standardized scores in English language arts (+26 points) and math (+17 points).
Participating students with the lowest prior achievement showed the greatest gains (+39 points, English; +33 points, math).
See: Holbrook, et al (2022), Music-Based Mentoring and Academic Improvement in High-Poverty Elementary Schools, Journal of Youth Development
Music-Based Mentoring: A Handbook for Implementation is designed to guide the school leader (and their music education implementation partners) on how to implement a quality music-based mentoring program using a step-by-step process. To support open learning, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License.
In 2026, the D’Addario Foundation will introduce the Immersive Music Challenge Ecosystem, a global network of nonprofit organizations that deliver immersive, music-based mentoring in high-needs communities.
