For the 14th straight year, Virginia Beach City Public Schools has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. The Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, the school division answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

“It is incredible that Virginia Beach City Public Schools has received this honor for 14 straight years,” said John Brewington, the coordinator of performing arts for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. “There are 13,000+ school districts across the country and 132 districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. To be selected as a Best Community in Music Education from all of those is an outstanding achievement! This award would not be possible if not for the music educators that work with our students day in and day out.”

The music directors, and music teachers across the school division continue to find ways to provide outstanding music education programs.

“Our continued success comes from the fact that the Virginia Beach City Public Schools administration, the School Board and the Hampton Roads community provide outstanding support,” Brewington added. “We have extremely talented students that we are honored to work with every day, and they never cease to amaze us!”

In 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which provides designated funding for well-rounded educational opportunities through Title IV Part A Student Academic Success and Achievement grants. NAMM Foundation research has revealed that these grants are being widely used by school districts to address instructional gaps in access to music and arts education.

The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 15,000 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.

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Department of Communications and Community Engagement, [email protected]

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