Beverly Hills Named One Of The Best Communities for Music Education

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Beverly Hills Unified School District's music education program was recently recognized for its excellence by a national organization.

The NAMM Foundation named the district among the Best Communities for Music Education, a designation awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students, according to a release from the district.

The foundation is supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants.

BHUSD leaders had to answer detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Their responses were reviewed by the Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas, according to the district.

BHUSD noted that studies have shown music education offers educational, cognitive and social-skill benefits for children. "After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school but also to attend college as well," the release reads.

The district thanked the following people: District Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Dana Findley; BHHS music teachers Justin Klotzle, Ethan Smith and Alex Breitman; BVMS music teachers Katina Vallens and Fred Pinto; and elementary music teachers Judith Chan and Christa Guthienz.