A NAfME Small School Initiative
Elevating the
Small School Music Education Experience
Richard Tengowski
NAfME North Central Division Immediate Past-President
Chair of the Small School Initiative
Minnesota Music Educators Association
Virtual Session
February 12, 2026
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Session:
We are here to elevate the small school music education experience:
Introducing the NAfME Small Schools Initiative:
Teaching music at a small school affords unique opportunities and benefits, while also presenting specific challenges.
Small School Initiative is an extension of the:
NAfME is an association where all people are heard, seen, and feel they
belong throughout their lifelong experiences in music.
Who in this room teaches in a small school?
My Story:
Richard Tengowski
NAfME’s Small School Initiative:
Starting its work in February 2023, the Task Force identifies key issues and effective strategies for:
to support music educators in small schools throughout the United States, primarily but not exclusively serving in rural contexts.
What is a small school? ��Best Answer: If you think you’re small, you are probably a small school!� � Note: Every state has different definitions or laws defining “small or rural school districts.”
As of January 18, 2024, the national average for the number of students per public school was:
(https://research.com/education/american-school-statistics)
A. 1488 students
B. 1123 students
C. 903 students
D. 526 students
Correct Answer
Lets talk about small schools in Minnesota? ��
Metric | Approximate Value (2025–26) |
Total public schools in Minnesota | |
Average enrollment per school | ~363 students (Public School Review) |
Estimated number with <500 students | ~1,630 schools |
Estimated share with <500 students | ≈72% |
About 23.9 % of Minnesota public schools had 1–199 students
(a common definition for very small schools).
Snapshot Lightening Round!�(Hypothetical Small School Settings)��
Data Source:
U.S. Dept of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), 2012-13
https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested-Data/Facts-and-Figures
https://www.rural.pa.gov/getfile.cfm?file=Resources/fact-sheets/Trends_in_education.pdf
Wisconsin
2190 Schools �77% are small schools
Minnesota
2264 Schools �72% are small schools
Ohio
3659 Schools �69% are small schools
Snapshot Lightening Round!�(Hypothetical Small School Settings)�
Approximately 96% of MT public school districts are classified as "small rural".
This is the highest percentage of any state in the U.S.
“no state has a higher percentage of rural schools or small rural districts” (Showalter, et al., 2017, p. 138)
Almost 60% of Wyoming's high schools enroll 200 or fewer students.
Data Source:
Montana State University CRRE, WY Legislature, NCES, Urban.org
827 Schools
96% Small Schools
395 Schools
90% Small Schools
513 Schools
67% Small Schools
795 Schools
41% Small Rural
721 Schools
75% Small Schools
Snapshot Lightening Round!�(Hypothetical Small School Settings)���
Data Source:
https://www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview/explore/statesnapshot
https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2024/03/https://carolinademography.cpc.unc.edu/2024/02/20/who-are-north-carolinas-public-school-students
About 81.5% of Colorado's school districts are rural, with 110 of those being small rural districts. Small rural districts have fewer than 1,000 students, while rural districts have 6,500 students or fewer and are located away from large urban areas.
Despite California being the most populous state, 35% of its school districts are considered rural – which the state defines as having fewer than 600 students and located more than 25 miles from a city. Nearly every county, including some of the most populous, has rural schools, even Los Angeles.
North Carolina
Remote areas of
people that are 60 minutes or more from an urban area of 50K people or more.
Big Picture:
According to a 2023 equity report done by the School Superintendents Assn:
�
Data Source:
Moral of the Story:
Identify the Challenges
The following are the results of a nationwide survey identifying challenges within small school music programs.
CHALLENGES
Isolation
Lack of Resources
Workload
Funding
Scheduling
Conflicts
Sharing Students
Ensemble
Parent/Community Barriers
Administration/Teacher Barriers
Other Issues
CHALLENGES - 122 Weighted Comments
10 Isolation
17 Lack of Resources
8 Workload
16 Funding
15 Scheduling
6 Conflicts
6 Sharing Students
18 Ensemble
8 Parent/Community Barriers
9 Admin./Teacher Barriers
9 Other Issues
*Isolation - both w/in school and network of surrounding colleagues
My biggest challenge is being the only teacher in my district that does what I do. It's hard to know if what you are doing is the right thing or if there are better methods out there. You don't have a cooperating teacher nearby to bounce ideas off of or get advice.
*Lack of Resources
Facilities: My smaller school uses the library for music, art, and library classes. We rotate through the week.
Equipment: I have more students interested than I have instruments.
Transportation: Transportation for some of my students can be a problem if we have something that falls outside of the school day.
Enrichment: Lack of access to high quality cultural activities such as concerts, plays, operas, musicals etc. Lack of access to private instruction. Limited support for the arts in general.
Workload
I am being spread too thin.. not enough time in a day, week, year.. working alone in my department.
It's overwhelming to bring great music experiences to such a huge range of age groups.
Funding
Our students never receive the same funding, opportunities or education as larger schools with better tax base provide. No matter how good Johnny is, he is playing on the schools 25 year old horn and isn't provided free lessons like other schools. It devalues my students and our programs.
*Scheduling
I am losing students to Art or Tech in High School because they can't take both.
Scheduling issues - ex. secondary students couldn't do band & choir
Scheduling conflicts - Having one district Music, Art, and PE Teacher limits the schedule severely and makes it so that students can only do Band in MS and Choir in HS. It makes it so you have to sacrifice one program for the other to be sustainable, which I don't want to do.
For Elementary - small classrooms and shared spaces make everything difficult. Teaching all the grade levels means scheduling as a whole is very difficult, especially when there is a special day/event.
Conflicts - with sports, clubs and outside activities
Conflicts with sports. We all need the same kids and there is only a small amount of students.
Many students will choose not to even sign up for musical/band/ect. because they are afraid it will conflict too much with their sport schedule.
Sharing Students
We are all competing for the same kids.
The kids that do music are the same kids who are in sports - and theatre - and ag, and sometimes it's hard to fight for kids.
*Ensemble
With a small pool of total students to pull from, we don't have large sections of the different instruments. Some years you have a nice sized trumpet section, a year or two later, you might only have two trumpets.
Small classes esp. band with limited instrumentation. It is hard to find music that sounds good with 12 members.
*Parent/Community Barriers
Lacking support in a sport dominant community.
Admin/teachers/parents don't see the need to do anything differently even when "the way we've always done it" isn't working anymore.
Parents don’t understand what we do.
Other Issues
High teacher turn over
Attracting candidates
Question No. 1
Some challenges are out of our control, but others have potential solutions.
What is one of your challenges that (with a little bit of creative brainstorming), you could improve?
Identified Challenges:
Isolation Lack of Resources Scheduling Ensemble
Workload Parent/Community Barriers Conflicts Sharing Students
Funding Teacher/Administrator Barriers
Question No. 2
What is the best thing about teaching in a small school?
Question No. 3
How do you measure success in a small school?
The survey results say…
Measuring Success in a Small School:
Student growth; developing self-sufficient musicians
Participation numbers
Ensemble (musicianship) improvement
Participating in festivals based on school size
Achievement of the national/state standards
Parent/Admin/Student feedback
Re-think how do you measure success!
NAfME’s Teaching Music:
August 2023 Teaching Music Magazine Feature Article
October 2023 Teaching Music Magazine Feature Article
Published Resources!
NAfME Small School Initiative Town Halls
Free for NAfME members.
Advocating for Federal Funds in the Small School Setting
Perspectives on Developing the Small School Music Program
Embracing and Influencing Change in Small School Music Programs
How to Redefine Success at a Small School
Elevating the Small-School Music Education Experience
Video Resources!
For more information about the
NAfME Small School Initiative:
To view the slides from this presentation, go to www.RichTengowski.com
and click on Music Educator
Thank you small school music teachers for making a profound difference and inspiring so many!