This study aims to shed light on the current state of music education within the Jackson Public Schools District. By examining the music curricula across general music, choral, and band programs, we've captured a snapshot of the structure and challenges of music education offerings.
The study explores the role of various demographic factors, such as school enrollment, percentage of minority students, and percentage of students receiving free lunch. Among the 52 music teachers surveyed, a response rate of 75% was achieved. Data was collected to gain insights on music curricular offerings by area and grade level, teaching load, instructional contact time, class enrollments, and performance activities. Analysis of results uncovered gaps in characteristics, enrollment, participation rate, and performance level. The study concludes with a discussion and recommendations for education administrators to address current trends and initiate policy changes to improve the overall state of music education within the state.
Abstract
This descriptive study sought to establish the current status of music education in the Jackson Public Schools Disctrict by examining the music curricula in general music, choral, and band, programs. Program characteristics were examined in relation to the school demographic characteristics of enrollment, percentage of minority students, and percentage of students receiving free lunch. A total of 52 music teachers were surveyed for the study, with a response rate of 75% by school district (N=69). Data were gathered by means of a survey. Teachers provided information concerning (a) music curricular offerings by area and grade level; (b) teaching load and instructional contact time; and, (c) class enrollments and performance activities. For each school district sampled, archival data were obtained from the State Department of Education. After analysis of results, there were gaps in characteristics, enrollment, , participation rate, and performance level. Approximately 80% of the sample indicated general music as at least part of their teaching load. Median student participation rates in music at the secondary level varied from 26% (band) to 21% (choral). The paper ends with a discussion and recommendations on how these tendencies should be addressed by education administrators in the school districts to make policy changes that would improve the overall status of music education within the state
Keywords: music curricula, school district, participation, performance.
Understanding the Status of Music Education in the Jackson Public Schools District
From the 1920s, when music began to be formally taught in Ohio, research on music in public schools has rarely been done across the states. There are a few investigations concerning music education that was conducted between the 1940s and the 1970s. These studies focused on the status of music education curricula in public schools, the quality of the music education, preparation of the music teachers, and school music supervision (Abril & Bannerman, 2015). In more recent times, descriptive research that involves samples across the state has concentrated on the characteristics and teaching responsibilities of music instructors in Iowa, global curricula of music in general music programs of Florida, the perception of music among class teachers, and how it is discerned in Illinois (Byo, 2018). Hence, it is evident that institutions of teacher education, professional organizations, and music educators could use some contemporary research that provides current information on the state-wide nature of music education in public school districts.
Music and arts are discipline areas that are regarded as crucial parts of a well-rounded K-12 education. Music education is instrumental in enriching the lives of students and it is also useful in providing personally fulfilling, creative, challenging, and engaging learning. The benefits of music education finally result in individuals who are artistically literate and creative (Hellman, 2008). K-12 music education facilitates the fluency of students in music literacy and also facilitates their engagement in practice to recreate and create music, as explained by Major (2013). Through the four artistic processes that involve Composing, Performing, Responding, and Connecting, music education in district schools, articulates learning expectations that support students' development as literate musicians through exhibiting the actual processes in which musicians engage as creative individuals (Payne et al., 2019).
The K-12 music practice offers students opportunities to perform and respond to music. Students are able to connect, synthesize, and relate their new musical knowledge and personal experiences while deepening their understanding of the world as inquisitive and self-actualized lifelong musicians (Major, 2013). The lifelong goals for music students, according to Major (2013), lie within the categories of the music discipline as follows: Music as: communication; culture, history, and connectors; creative personal realization; means to well-being; community engagement; and as a profession.
Music as communication
A wide array of literacies, metaphors, symbols and media are used by Citizens who are musically literate to autonomously create and perform work that portrays and conveys their own ideas. They are also able to respond by evaluating and interpreting artistic communications by other people.
Music as the creative personal realization
Musically literate citizens acquire adequate proficiency to continue active involvement in creating, performing, responding, and connecting to music as an adult.
Music as a means to well-being
Citizens who have music literacy acquire qualities that enhance their lives such as inspiration, joy, stimulation of intelligence, meaning, peace, and emotional connection by participating in music.
Music as culture, history, and connectors
Citizens who are musically literate are knowledgeable and comprehend works of music from different historical periods and cultures and are actively involved in seeking and appreciating varied forms and genres of musical work of engendering quality, relevance, and cultural value. They also aim to comprehend associations among music and other arts and promote habits of seeking and determining relationships and patterns between music and other art forms.
Music as community engagement
Musically literate citizens seek musical experiences and support music in their local, state, national, and global communities through advocacy, participation, and patronage.
Music as a profession
Musically literate citizens appreciate the value of supporting music as a profession by engaging with music and by supporting the funding of music. Many people who are musically talented will pursue a career in music, thereby enriching local, state, national, and global communities and economies (Benett, 2016).
Aside from the above-listed applications of music literacy, students who learn music have been found to have enhanced language capabilities, improved memory, powerful habits of studying, enhanced hand-eye coordination, polished teamwork, and heightened mental processing and problem-solving (Brown, 2012). As explained by Brown (2012), scientific evidence suggests that the part of the brain that controls musical ability and comprehension of language are related in more ways than initially perceived. This explains the relationship between music education and enhanced language ability. He also highlights that music education incorporates a high degree of memorization, which generally benefits the memory core of the brain. Hand-eye coordination is enhanced by music since the art requires the creation of correct notes when playing an instrument through correct hand motions. Musicians are also required to read the sheet music and follow the lead of the conductor (Rutkwoski et al., 2021). Hence, given the advantages that music education offers, the art should be supported and advocated for in all public learning institutions.
According to Groulx (2016), a majority of elementary schools (52%) adhere to a written curriculum guide for courses associated with music. Furthermore, 53% of these curricula are written at the district level, while 24% at the classroom, school, or another level. The remaining 23% are penned down at the state level. As noted by Gul and Kale (2020), music education in public schools within the United States has faced several challenges over the years. Economic constraints that hit the United States have resulted in diminishing and limiting funds for public schools. According to Elpus and Grise (2019), the economic conditions have forced school district officials to offer high-quality education but with less funding.
The No Child Left behind Act of 2002 changed the course of educational priorities towards disciplines evaluated on standardized achievement tests. The subjects included in this act were Science, History, Math, and English, but the act did not incorporate music or other arts (Jennings & Lauen, 2016). The high preferences for the above-listed subjects imply that solely the school districts were obliged to get the students ready to excel in the standardized subjects, although they also had to keep on pushing the students to obtain higher scores each year (McGuinn, 2016). To ascertain that there was persistent growth and success of every child in these tests, decision-makers of school districts were forced to prioritize the disciplines covered by the standardized tests, creating an adverse effect on music education (Waldow, 2015). Several administrators witnessed a shift in the allocation of money towards unfunded directives, negatively impacting the finances available for music education programs (Heise, 2017). In addition to the changes in terms of financial allocation, the shift in the education system also caused an increase in the amount of time used on tested subjects, and other subjects like art and music had to be disregarded (Jennings & Lauen, 2016). Hence, the amount of time devoted to other courses was reduced, as emphasized by the National statistics on music education (Baumgartner, 2018). It has also been revealed that in the state, schools have cut down on time deliberated for music education during school days, and enrolment in music classes has also been restricted.
However, regardless of these challenges, Americans, with the inclusion of general education teachers and school administrators, have exhibited firm support for music in public education (Elpus & Grise, 2019). Nonetheless, in order to make other tested subjects a priority other tested subjects over arts education, including music. The controversy between arts education such as music and standardized testing has been of media interest more than any other topic in education (Arostegui, 2016). The media has portrayed education in arts such as music as a dying subject, which within no time will be phased out of the public-school curricula (Arostegui, 2016). In several school districts across the state, tighter allocation of funds and new policies have been prioritized over music education.
Other schools got rid of K-5 music, while some limited the budget, reduced the number of teachers, and the remaining teachers had to work overloaded schedules (Martin, 2018). Although some schools made rigorous cuts on music curricula, other schools, including the entire school districts, did not (Martin, 2018). When four district schools’ music programs were assessed, Gallo (2018) found that a decade after receiving honors by MENC (the National Association for Music Education), every district preserved its music program regardless of the threats that they would acquire limited funding. This success is ascribed to the competency of the staff as well as its sufficient size, adequate funding, high enrolment of students, firm support from the community, and a broad curriculum (Gallo, 2018). Other schools initiated and kept new programs, which led to the success that was witnessed in many levels, as explained by Gallo (2018). The National statistics of 2008 supported the music achievement accounts, highlighting the report by administrators that 71% of eighth-graders attended schools that had music as part of the district or state curriculum (Lind & McKoy, 2016). According to Lind and McKoy (2016), the rate of incorporation of music education was an increment from a study conducted in 1997, but this increase was not acknowledged as statistically significant.
The example indicated above offers a counterargument to how the media portrays music education in public schools as a failing concept. Furthermore, an interesting question is raised on why some institutions sustain music education while others do not. A survey carried out by Crawford (2017) revealed that the relationship between limitations in budget and the striking down or reduction of instrumental music education in public school districts is insignificant. This is also the case with institutions with and without budgetary limitations, as well as music education programs that have been saved and those that have been removed from the curriculum. The most logical answer originates from a harder process of deciding on how to spend the available finances (Crawford, 2017). Perrine (2017) argues that economic choices mostly incorporated trade-offs, and school districts could have the ability to maintain music programming only through making other sacrifices.
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- Rhoda Frank (Autor), 2023, Evaluating and Enhancing Music Education in Jackson Public Schools. A Comprehensive Study, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1363979
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