By helping pay for college, we empower the brightest individuals to become who they were always destined to be.
In 2019, only 37% of U.S. 12th graders could read proficiently; only 40% were proficient in math. Poor reading and math comprehension limit a student’s ability to learn, to earn, and to effectively parent future children of their own. Poor reading and math skills underlie every form of social inequity. The pandemic made things worse; it led to widespread learning loss and increased students’ anxiety, depression, and social isolation, putting our students into crisis.
Immersive music education is an instrument of change. In 2024, the D’Addario Foundation launched the Immersive Music Challenge (IMC), an implementation study to evaluate the impact music-based mentoring can have on academic performance and social-emotional wellbeing of students who attend high-poverty schools. We challenge nonprofit music programs and school districts around the world to implement immersive music programs within their communities by providing free, hands-on music instruction at least four hours per week, paired with mentoring and wraparound services such as academic assistance, food, and transportation, etc.
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. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License.
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
There is nothing more fundamental than education and mental health.
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By helping pay for college, we empower the brightest individuals to become who they were always destined to be.
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