For the 16th time, Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation. Now in its 26th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement for providing music access and education to all students.
Master Class Criteria
The master class program is being shifted to align and support curriculum, thus strengthening student understandings and the overall quality of the program. The new approach will focus on experience in the form of credits, rather than total hours. A large portion of the program will be completed during classroom instruction and will count as 5% of the quarterly grade. For example, in a full year course a student will complete 4 master classes/4 credits. Teachers will use best practices for accountability which include, but not limited to, performances, mastery of skills, reflection writing, and projects. The independent element will continue, but will be a smaller component. All independent Reflection Sheets will be submitted to the lead strand teacher. Each Independent experience will count as 1 credit. Below is a general breakdown of how the adjusted program will work.