The Impact of a Funded Research Program on Music Education Policy

Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education is a research program designed to allow researchers to examine the roles of music education in the lives of school-aged children to expand the understanding of music's role in a quality education. The NAMM Foundation, the sponsoring organization, has provided more than $1,000,000 to fund research on the impact of music education on student achievement and success in school; all aspects of a child's growth and development; the uses and functions of music in daily life; and home, school, and community environments. Quality research about the role and impact of music education conducted by experienced researchers who publish in rigorous, peer-reviewed, scientific research journals plays a vital role in moving a public policy agenda forward to achieve expanded access to music education for all children. The goal is that this research will inform policy debates and development to achieve policies that support opportunities for every child to experience the power and benefits of learning music.     

A View of Current Evaluative Practices in Instrumental Music Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to examine how instrumental music educator skills are being evaluated in current undergraduate programs. While accrediting organizations mandate certain elements of these programs, they provide limited guidance on what evaluative approaches should be used. Instrumental music teacher educators in the College Music Society (n = 303) supplied data about their respective programs through an online survey. Participants reported using written and verbal feedback, self-evaluation, and rubrics most frequently. Similar evaluation processes used across program courses or experiences, such as rubrics and ePortfolios, were described by 35 percent of the music teacher educators. Most programs culminated in a semester-long student teaching period, during which preservice teachers were observed and evaluated by university supervisors three to four times. Weak correlations were indicated between some evaluative practices and music teacher educators’ expectations for program graduates’ music educator skills. Implications for music teacher education programs and suggestions for establishing evaluation policies are discussed.     

School-University Partnerships in Music Education: A Status Report

A survey was distributed to the members of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC)'s Society for Music Teacher Education that presented members with seven questions about the types and nature of their school-university partnerships. The majority of respondents (N = 251) reported that they engaged in multiple partnerships that included not only universities and schools, but also music education associations, community and private arts organizations, individuals, and businesses. The benefits of these partnerships to preservice music teachers were (a) improved learning experiences, (b) the opportunity to gain real-world teaching experience and apply theory to practice, and (c) interaction with musicians and ensembles. The primary benefits to the university and school-based teachers were (a) professional development opportunities, and (b) opportunities for collegiality. Challenges to partnerships were (a) the difficulty of scheduling, (b) a lack of time, and (c) communication. Results revealed that respondents perceive partnerships as being between individuals, that one person usually takes the lead to develop the partnership, and that the benefits of the partnerships outweigh the challenges. Suggestions for policymakers are provided to address the challenges of partnership work.     

The Impact of Neuroscience on Music Education Advocacy and Philosophy

This content analysis examines how philosophy and advocacy articles published between 2005 and 2010 were influenced by current neuroscience research. The contents of twelve journals were explored, resulting in the inclusion of forty-five articles in this analysis. Recently, there has been a growing interest in neuroscientific research on music. Articles were coded for latent content and emerging themes to determine if this interest has begun to be expressed in philosophy and advocacy writings. The educational implications and issues of using neuroscientific findings are addressed, and recommendations are offered for using future research for advocacy purposes.     

Merit Pay and the Music Teacher

Current proponents of education reform are at present seeking to fundamentally change the system of teacher compensation by eliminating the traditional single salary schedule and instituting a merit pay system that directly links teacher pay to student achievement. To date, the scholarly literature in music education has been silent on the subject of teacher compensation reform. This article reviews the political arguments and empirical evidence on teacher merit pay while considering these reforms’ potential deleterious effects on music educators. After examining the potential pitfalls of a merit pay system for music educators, I propose one possible framework for evaluating music teachers in a merit pay system.     

Access to Music Education with Regard to Race in Two Urban Areas

This quantitative study examined access to school music instruction with regard to race in two urban areas: Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, DC, in 2009–2010. We found significant differences in the provision of music instruction between schools with high and low proportions of nonwhite enrollment, in categories including curricular offerings, extracurricular offerings, and resources. In the Detroit area, only 31 percent to 60 percent of schools with high percentages of nonwhite students offered any music instruction at all. We contrast our findings with those of a National Center for Educational Statistics report to demonstrate how regional and national averages can obscure information that should guide policy, such as the influence of location and racial demographics of schools on the provision of public school music instruction. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of using flawed data in the creation of policy and suggestions for more comprehensive and accurate data collection and analysis.     

Public Policy and Music Education in Norway and Finland

This article applies the Toulmin argument model of rhetorical analysis—which features identification and dissection of the components of prominent enthymemes—to scrutinize concepts within both educational policy documents and relevant music education literature from Norway and Finland across the past decade. Our analysis examines how understandings of “music education” are formulated through the cosmopolitan rhetoric of public policy, enabling rigorous assessment of relationships between the prospective limitations of these formulations and the actual concerns of music teachers evident in professional periodicals since the start of the twenty-first century.     

Music Education for Young Children in Scandinavia: Policy,Philosophy, or Wishful Thinking?

The author discusses current policies, philosophies, and educational practices of early childhood music education in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) and to what extent they meet the challenges of music education for young children. Nearly all children use day care provisions, and they are a governmental responsibility. The author reviews governmental policies regarding general pedagogical goals of day care and kindergarten in Scandinavia. During the last decade, teaching plans for preschool pedagogy were implemented and the author discusses to what extent the plans meet current challenges of music education. The author also discusses the challenges of teacher-training programs in light of current policies regarding music education in early childhood.     

PBL教学模式在我国医学本科生中教学效果的Meta分析

目的:系统评价我国以问题为基础的教学(problem-based learning,PBL)模式在医学本科生中的教学效果。方法:运用计算机检索中国知网、万方数据库、维普数据库收录的国内公开发表以问题为基础的本科医学生教育相关的临床研究文献,同时进行Meta分析。结果:共检索出783篇相关文献,通过筛选共有9篇文献纳入研究,共计纳入986例教学对象。纳入文献Jadad评分2-3分,纳入文献均说明基线资料均有可比性。对所有文献进行合并分析显示,PBL教学法的教学效果与传统教学组有显著差异(Z=6.52,P0.00001),PBL教学法优于传统教学法[SMD=7.72,95%CI[5.4,10.04],P0.00001]。结论:采用PBL教学法的教学效果优于传统教学法。但我国医学教育应用此方法仍不普及,其原因有待深入探讨,现有研究质量普遍不高,有待普及规范标准的研究方法。     

Early Childhood Music Education in Australia: A Snapshot

Policy for early childhood music education (birth to eight years of age) in Australia covers a complex and diverse range of curriculum guidelines and legislation relating to the contexts of day care, preschool, and the early years of school. Australian models and policies vary from state to state and according to setting. Furthermore, early childhood education is constantly changing and evolving, responding to new practices, altered government priorities and funding, and community needs. In this article, the author aims to provide a snapshot of the situation by reviewing and analyzing educational policies, teacher training, and providers of early childhood music programs as well as suggesting some future directions.     

Music teachers' perceptions of high stakes teacher evaluation

Recent corporate education reform policies have replaced relatively informal systems of principal observations that had been familiar to many teachers for much of their professional careers with high-stakes teacher evaluation (HSTE) systems that now determine who is allowed to remain in the profession and who gets terminated. Many education scholars have found current teacher evaluation systems to be lacking in validity and reliability. This article examines the perspectives of music teachers working within HSTE systems through a policy lens, identifying the major challenges these systems pose for music educators and offering policy recommendations for improving the evaluation of music teachers.     

Revisioning and reinstating: Music education after the Great Recession

ABSTRACT

The Great Recession caused many school districts across the country to make numerous cuts in their annual budget models. As a result of these austerity measures, administrators often reduced arts education offerings. In the current study, we highlight how budget reductions in three districts negatively impacted music education curricula, and how education policy makers in each district developed unique frameworks to revision and reinstate music instruction in their schools. Themes from multiple stakeholder interviews revealed a process for those who seek new advocacy messages including hearing the voice for the arts/music, revisioning music curricula, and understanding agents of change. A key finding in the current investigation was the importance of all players accepting and understanding the different approaches to reinstating and revisioning music curricula. Suggestions for further investigation include varying the type of district selected for investigation and including teacher and community member voice in policy discussions and development.     

Education for sustainability in higher education: a multiple-case study of three courses

Education for sustainability (EfS) in higher education is an emerging specialisation within the general field of EfS. EfS encompasses cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects, and aims at enhancing a variety of learning outcomes in these domains and reaching students from all programmes. One of the main challenges for higher education educators is to design courses in a way that will effectively promote the various learning outcomes of EfS. A central question is how sustainability should be integrated into the curriculum; which topics should be taught and which pedagogies ought to be applied to improve students’ knowledge, skills and motivation to promote sustainable living. The present study aimed to contribute to the knowledge about students’ learning outcomes yielded by different designs of EfS courses. This multiple-case study of three courses used a mixed-methods design. For each course, we identified its characteristics and analysed students’ self-reported learning outcomes. We found that: (1) a course with a higher degree of participatory learning, employing a system approach, promoted the highest and most varied learning outcomes; (2) the lecture-based course yielded the fewest learning outcomes; and (3) field trips promoted learning outcomes only when accompanied by more advanced pedagogies.     

Learning of a Mimic Odor within Beehives Improves Pollination Service Efficiency in a Commercial Crop

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Undergraduate Music Program Alumni's Career Path,Retrospective Institutional Satisfaction,and Financial Status

The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate music education and performance alumni's career path, retrospective institutional satisfaction, and financial status. Data for this study were drawn from respondents from the 2010 administration of the nationwide, multi-institutional survey conducted by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP). Regarding career path, nearly half of the music performance degree graduates reported performing as their current job, and slightly more than half of the music education degree graduates reported working in K–12 schools. Participants were generally satisfied with their institutional experiences, although relatively low levels of satisfaction were reported for networking and career advising services. The respondents reported being most satisfied with aspects of their current jobs that reflected the intrinsic benefits of contributing to a greater good, satisfying personal interests and values, and opportunities to be creative. The majority of the sample reported accruing student loan debt ranging between $10,000 and $30,000; however, no significant differences were found between groups, and 40 percent of the participants reported having accrued no debt at all. The reported annual income of the participants varied significantly, with music educators reporting higher earnings than performers.     

医学模拟教学结合以问题为导向的教学模式在重症医学教学中的应用研究

目的:探讨医学模拟教学结合以问题为导向(PBL)的教学模式在重症医学教学中的应用价值。方法:选取2015年1月~2017年1月在我院重症医学科轮转实习的五年制医学生64人作为研究对象。按随机数字表法将64名医学生分为PBL组(n=32)和结合教学组(n=32)。PBL组采用PBL教学,结合教学组采用医学模拟结合PBL教学。分别在入科时和轮转实习结束时对两组学员进行理论考试和技能操作考核,记录成绩并比较。理论考试和技能操作考核后采取发放问卷进行调查的形式获得学员对教学效果的主观评价。结果:轮转实习结束时,两组理论考试分数差异无统计学意义(P0.05);而结合教学组技能操作考核成分数显著高于PBL组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05)。两组学员在教学方法接受度高、学习兴趣提升、自学能力提升和临床诊疗水平提高所占比例差异无统计学意义(P0.05);结合教学组学员在团队协作能力提高、沟通能力与人文关怀提高和技能操作水平提高所占比例高于PBL组,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:与单独PBL教学相比较,医学模拟教学结合PBL的教学模式应用于重症医学教学对学员技能操作的掌握有更好的效果,同时能提高学员团队协作能力、沟通能力以及对患者的人文关怀,且受到学员的认同与喜爱,应在重症医学的教学实践中逐步完善并进一步推广应用。     

Intersections between music education and music therapy: Education reform,arts education,exceptionality, and policy at the local level

In this article, a music teacher educator and a music therapy clinician and educator discuss special education policy and arts instruction at the district level. To illustrate the gulf between federal and local policies with regard to exceptional learners and arts instruction, we examine the intersections of music therapy and music education with regard to self-contained classes of students with moderate to severe disabilities. Our discussion focuses on provision of services and opportunity to learn, and results in specific policy suggestions, including: (a) increasing administrators' understanding of music therapy, adaptive music education, and music education, so that decisions regarding arts instruction can be better-informed and more child-centered, (b) treating music therapists as allied health professionals who do not need to be certified teachers to practice in schools, and (c) improving initial music teacher preparation and providing opportunities for professional development to increase awareness of necessary information and effective strategies to improve music teaching and learning for students with special needs.     

Changing the science education paradigm: from teaching facts to engaging the intellect: Science Education Colloquia Series, Spring 2011

Dr. Jo Handelsman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University, is a long-time devotee of scientific teaching, receiving this year’s Presidential Award for Science Mentoring. She gave a seminar entitled “What is Scientific Teaching? The Changing Landscape of Science Education” as a part of the Scientific Education Colloquia Series in spring 2011. After dissecting what is wrong with the status quo of American scientific education, several ideological and practical changes are proposed, including active learning, regular assessment, diversity, and mentorship.     

Music education and the well-rounded education provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act: A critical policy analysis

Critical approaches to policy analysis, although common in general education, are rare in arts education literature. By adopting critical approaches, researchers can produce scholarship that will be transformative for policies that impact arts education and for the profession as a whole. In this article, I present a framework that allows researchers to incorporate critical theory into policy analysis. This ideological work can expose sources of power and help reveal the ways in which the targets of policy are complicit in their own domination. Adopting this framework, I examine the well-rounded education provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 to better understand the policy's origins, its development, and the potential implications for music education.     

Why music matters in urban school districts: The perspectives of students and parents of the Celia Cruz High School of Music,Bronx, New York

Despite their long history and importance in the American curriculum, music programs must constantly justify their place in the twenty-first century. Urban areas that are economically depressed sometimes may not be able to offer music instruction due to the emphasis on raising test scores as well as unfavorable economic conditions that may limit their options. Despite these challenges, community leaders and educators successfully established a school of music in the Bronx, New York. Celia Cruz High School, the focus of this case study, was created to offer a musically centered curriculum in the borough of the Bronx as well as address the epidemic of large failing schools. Celia Cruz in its design and current state serves the population of the Bronx and reflects that demographic. Interviews with parents and students were carried out as a means of establishing the perspective of a musically focused education within this context. Based on interviews, parents and students of Celia Cruz value music as its own form of knowledge and view it as a vital part of the academic lives of the students of Celia Cruz High School. The purpose of this study was to share the stories, perspectives, and experiences of the Celia Cruz community and the impact that a musically focused education could have on the lives of students in the Bronx, New York.