02/07/06 -- Wynton Marsalis once described it as the art of the invisible. My son's trumpet teacher calls it the language of emotion. As for me, I simply love music. And I daresay all three of us believe music is an essential component in a high-quality education.

That credo places music squarely in the core curriculum, and it makes music instruction a fundamental right for every single child.

A growing body of research supports this view. Whether we are seeking ways to build brain connections in young children or ways to prevent at-risk students from dropping out, music makes a difference.

Earlier research showed that music students consistently scored higher than their counterparts on the SAT, but nobody really knew whether that was because the brightest students gravitated toward music or because music was making kids smarter. A more recent study in which students who studied piano or voice for nine months were compared to peers without musical training showed gains in IQ scores for those who took music lessons.

The No Child Left Behind Act includes the arts as a core academic subject and requires that arts teachers be highly qualified. But NCLB's mandate for annual testing in mathematics and reading has elevated the status of those subjects and placed pressure on schools to raise test scores or face serious consequences.

The most serious consequence, however, may well be an unintended one: the narrowing of the curriculum. This amounts to a form of triage in which other academic programs are cut back in an effort to raise test scores while conserving scarce resources. All too often, music programs are the first to go.

But there is good news. Across the nation, there are school districts that have sustained high-quality arts programs -- through the tough times and the good times. In those schools, students are nourished by a full, rich curriculum, and they are nurtured by caring teachers. Extraordinary things happen in that climate for learning.

Imagine walking into a classroom where kindergarten students are learning to play the piano or speak a foreign language. It's happening in places like Daviess County, Ky., where the education program is built around research on brain development.

Imagine attending an orchestra concert at a school where every child -- and every classroom teacher -- in grades 3-6 is a violinist. This is happening in Salt Lake City, Utah, at an inner-city school where most of the children are of minority origin, live in poverty, and enter school unable to speak English.

Imagine visiting a school where elementary and middle school children are engaged in the creation of original opera. This is happening in Montgomery County, Md., where recent productions included "Sabotage at Camp Evergreen," an opera composed, produced, and performed by fourth graders.

There are two common threads in these extraordinary programs. First, they serve not only privileged children in suburban schools, but also disadvantaged children in high-poverty schools.

Second, these programs rely on help from outside sources -- ranging from community volunteers who give of their time to day-to-day fund raising by the principal in an impoverished school to teacher training provided through the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

It isn't easy to develop successful relationships between music advocates and the school board, even though both might be strong supporters of the arts.

All too often, music advocates feel stymied by the world of policy governance with its laws, rules, and procedures. And school board members feel as if they are being assaulted by demands for programs at times when there is no available funding. But when collaboration makes education miracles happen for children, it is worth the extra effort.

I recently delivered a keynote address to a group of music advocates at the Support Music Coalition Summit. In my presentation, I identified six basic steps that should be mastered by anyone who wants to dance with the school board:

• The big picture. Instead of pitting one subject against another, look at the comprehensive needs of students in the context of educating the whole child.
• The long-term perspective. Although it is tempting (and sometimes necessary) to do battle for survival of a program, seek long-term reform of education financing and of state and federal policy.
• The locus of power. Target advocacy efforts where they will be most effective. Support funding from the state legislature and standards from the state board of education. And then support implementation at the local level.
• The window of opportunity. Take advantage of times when advocacy efforts are especially effective. New research often piques the interest of policymakers. And funding lawsuits at the state level provide splendid opportunities to speak out for adequacy and equity.
• The guardian of high-quality programs. Be proactive in protecting a standards-based music curriculum, preserving physical space in the building for music instruction, and ensuring that certified music teachers are in charge of school music programs.
• The ethical center. Always, without exception, place the well-being of children at the heart of every advocacy effort.

If we are truly committed to educating all children, we had better not settle for merely raising test scores. Endless test preparation and dreary scorekeeping may give the illusion of accountability, but they do nothing to foster the joy of wonder-filled discovery.

Our nation's children deserve better. They need to master reading and math, but they can do so in places of learning where artwork adorns the hallways, music lifts the spirit, and hope abounds. High-quality education for each child is a moral imperative; making it happen requires a magnificent collaborative effort from all of us. Shall we dance?

Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2005, National School Boards Association.