MusicFirst is proud to partner with another school system to share tools that improve music education for both teachers and students. This time, we head to the East Coast to the great city of Philadelphia, PA.

During 2015-2016, every teacher in the Philadelphia School District willhave access to all software titles in the MusicFirst Online Classroom.

“This is a year-long pilot program where teachers will use all the MusicFirst Online Classroom tools with their students in the classroom setting before a possible district-wide adoption for the 2016-2017 school year. We are thrilled to see the teacher and student response,” said MusicFirst Director, Dr. Jim Frankel.

The School District of Philadelphia is comprised of 218 schools including, 53 High Schools, 16 Middle Schools, and 149 Elementary in various configurations of K-8 with 219 Music Educatorscurrently serving the district.

Frank Machos, Director of Music Education for the School District of Philadelphia, is looking forward to implementing MusicFirst in the classrooms. He is a seasoned musician with a keen understanding of music pedagogy.

“We are excited to introduce MusicFirst to our teachers this year and to give every music teacher in the district the opportunity to explore the capabilities of MusicFirst to enhance their music classrooms. As feedback begins to arrive from teachers expressing their excitement, we will begin rolling out student subscriptions to a small cohort of teachers,” Machos said.

"As a former instrumental music teacher, MusicFirst is the exact tool I spent a number of years trying to locate, assemble, manage, and upgrade! I am thrilled to be able to bring this amazing tool kit to our educators as it will streamline their ability to provide a culturally relevant music experience for our students that is hands on, easy to use, easy to manage, and familiar to our students."

Throughout the year, the Philadelphia School District will collect feedback to determine which software packages make the most sense for each teaching environment with a goal of full implementation in 2016.