JAMM is an El Sistema-inspired music program that offers Juneau’s youth early access to instrumental instruction through school and community partnerships. Based upon cognitive research that show playing an instrument at an early age develops key skills for success.
JAMM invests in pre-school and kindergarten classes by working with teachers and local musicians to provide group instrumental lessons during the school day at least three times a week. Glacier Valley Elementary School piloted Juneau’s JAMM program in the 2010-2011 school year.
This short film produced by AASB in partnership with Lucid Reverie documents JAMM’s successful first year.
Educators at Glacier Valley were able to establish a correlational link by comparing the kindergartners fall and spring MAP (Measurement of Academic Success). By doing so, they compared student scores before and after receiving eight months of violin instruction. What were the results? In the words of Phil Loseby, the Juneau School District’s Assessment Coordinator, “Significant!” (See the charts below)
Lorrie Heagy, Glacier Valley music teacher and point person responsible for establishing JAMM, updates the progress of the program through a blog and a website. Follow along to see news, videos, and research behind JAMM.
Read an article about JAMM from the 2012 Jan/Feb. issue of ICE News.