Facts Concerning Music Education

  • On SAT tests for 2006, music students scored an average of 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 43 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the arts.
  • Schools that have music programs have significantly higher graduation rates than those without programs (90.2% as compared to 72.9%). Harris Interactive poll of high school principals, Spring 2006.
  • A recent Rockefeller Foundation Study discovered that music majors have the highest rate of admittance to medical schools, followed by biochemistry and the humanities.
  • The American Music Conference reports that music-makers are more likely to go on to college and other higher education than non-music makers…52% more likely!
  • A report released by the Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that “Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances” (Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana or any illicit drug).
  • A comprehensive series of skill tests were run on 5,154 fifth-graders in all 75 of the Albuquerque, NM elementary schools. In every single test area, kids who were learning to play a musical instrument received higher marks than their classmates. And the longer the school children had been in the instrumental programs, the higher they scored.
  • “At Mission Viejo H.S. in California, the overall grade point average for non-music students =2.91. The overall grade point average of music students=3.59. Five percent of non-music students had a 4.0 while 16% of music students had a 4.0.” Horne, C. (1983 February-March) “If You Don’t Do It, Nobody Else Will.” CMEA News, pp. 11-13, 26.
  • A November 2007 Harris Poll showed that overall, 77% of Americans have been involved in some type of music program while in school. 85% of college graduates and 83% of those with some college were involved in music at some point while in school. And 85% of those with a household income of $75,000 and up were involved in music while in school.
  • A study at Florida State University (1990) showed 71% of administrators surveyed stated that Arts courses had a positive influence on student’s decisions to stay in school and that over 50% of the students surveyed stated that the participation in Arts courses positively influenced their decision to remain in school.