NEW YORK, New York (Achieve3000, April 30, 2008). Michael Bitz is known for coming up with creative ways to make school fun. Bitz is a 36-year-old professor from Columbia University in New York. He is the founder of a popular program in which kids practice reading and writing by creating comic books. This month, Bitz beat out about 150 others to win a national competition—and a $250,000 fellowship—for his latest educational program. The program helps students learn academic subjects while creating their own record labels.
Bitz is the first-ever winner of the fellowship. It was awarded through The Mind Trust, a nonprofit group. The Mind Trust’s mission is to encourage entrepreneurial solutions to problems in U.S. schools. The organization seeks bold ideas that will promote change in public education. It is also interested in programs that are inexpensive. The organization wants to ensure the programs can easily be replicated.
Bitz’s program, called “Youth Music Exchange,” meets both of these qualifications. First, it provides a creative way to learn. Second, it costs about $2,500 per school. This is relatively inexpensive for a high-tech program.
Bitz is already trying out his new idea in several after-school programs in New York City. Students in the programs compose songs and create digital music tracks. They even design cover art for their CDs. They even develop plans for marketing their CDs.
Through the fellowship, Bitz hopes to expand the program to Indianapolis schools. Unlike the schools in New York City, it will become a part of the regular school day there. That will be a challenge in many districts. This is because there is an intense focus placed on reading and math. Those subjects are tested under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Concentration on these core academic subjects frequently occurs at the expense of other non-tested school activities, such as music and art.
Although it is music-based, Bitz says that his program addresses schools’ concerns about meeting their annual progress goals associated with NCLB. He believes that Youth Music Exchange will likely boost test scores in subjects such as math and reading. For example, Bitz says, students can develop math skills by outlining marketing and business strategies for selling their CDs.
“[Youth Music Exchange can be] built into the process of what the children are supposed to be doing,” Bitz said.
Students who have used the program agree that it helps them learn. This surprised Madelyne Giron, 13. She says that the fun she was having in Bitz’s music program related to the work she was doing in her English class. “We were writing the songs, and we did similes [and] metaphors,” she said.
Youth Music Exchange also seems to have social benefits. Andre Joyles organizes the program at a high school in Queens, New York. Joyles says the program can assist with the often challenging task of building teen confidence. Joyles noted that one sophomore was painfully shy at the beginning of the school year. This student had a secret interest in writing poetry. But she never shared her work with anyone. Through the program, the student began putting her words to music. She then shared the effort with her peers. “She never really used to express herself,” Joyles said. “She’s open with us now.”
Student Katherine Saldana noted that making CDs has helped the kids in her after-school program to get along better with one another.
Bitz said that bringing music-making to schools is a sure way to draw kids in. “There’s just something about music that helps kids connect to themselves and the world at large,” he said.