Education Through Music, Inc.

For over 25 years, Education Through Music (ETM) has partnered with inner-city schools to provide music as a core subject for all children, and utilized music education as a catalyst to improve academic achievement, motivation for school and self-confidence.

ETM forms long-term partnerships with elementary and middle schools with at-risk student populations, tailoring programs to meet each school's needs and assessing programs on an ongoing basis. When ETM partners with a school all students, including those in special education, receive music as a core subject. ETM trains music teachers to be effective educators, and provides professional development to classroom teachers to build support for music as part of a well-rounded education.

ETM's partner school program seeks to achieve improvements in:

• Student performance in music and in academics.
• Students' general development, including self-esteem and motivation for school.
• Music teachers' abilities to educate children.
• Music and classroom teachers' abilities to collaborate and plan effective integration to support overall learning.
• Community and school support for the arts, especially as evidenced by steps taken towards building capacity to sustain programs.

During 2017-18, ETM's partner school program serves 30,000 children at more than 50 schools located in all five boroughs of New York City. Approximately 90% of the students are eligible for the Federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch Program, determined by family income, 92% are students of color, 14% are English Language Learners, and approximately 20% have special needs.

ETM is unique within the arts education community for our focus on education and for our involvement of the whole school community to encourage school-wide reform. Music is taught both in its own right and as a means of supporting learning in other areas. We serve schools from multiple angles, providing extensive training and support to teachers and to school leadership, and conducting outreach to parents. Finally, we work toward sustaining programs, including getting principals to hire music teachers to school staff so that music programs can continue beyond ETM’s involvement. 

In addition to its core partner school activities in New York City, ETM has a growing national presence and offers consulting services, including professional development. We also advise ETM-LA, an independent organization we have licensed to replicate our model in Los Angeles.