Giving Compass' Take:

• The Grammy Music Education Coalition is helping expand music education programs by investing time and resources into  public schools.

• What are the benefits of music education?

• Read about bringing cultural and social relevance to music education.

Music industry and marketing courses. Female students training to be audio engineers. Drum sets designed by Questlove. These are the staples of a new approach to teaching music in public schools — one actively supported by the Grammy Music Education Coalition.

The organization, now in its second year, invests in resource-strapped school districts to re-energize music instruction in K-12 public schools. The goal is to undo the spread of “music deserts”: neighborhoods that lack consistent exposure to live music performance and lessons — especially for kids.

Gaps in access to music education in U.S. public schools have grown in recent years. About 1 in 6 eighth-graders reported not having a full-time specialist to teach music, according to 2017 research from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. For black and Latino students, it was about 1 in 5. Students from low-income backgrounds were also less likely to attend schools with dedicated music educators and music rooms than their peers.

Read the full article about music education by Noble Ingram at The 74.