Is Music Education in Tune With the Pursuit of Equity? An Examination of Access to Music Education in Michigan’s Schools

Abstract

Access to music education in American schools is not guaranteed. Although national studies have demonstrated disparities based on poverty, race, and other markers, these studies miss a necessary level of local detail in describing access. Additionally, studies that exist are based on self-report surveys and prone to nonresponse bias. The purpose of this study was to describe access to music education at the state level. Using Michigan administrative data provided by the state department of education, we describe the state’s population of music educators and examine student access to music education. We found that music teachers differed from nonmusic teachers in a number of ways. We also identified substantial and persistent disparities in access to music education across the state. These findings have important implications for school arts education policy.

Public High School Music Education in Maryland: Issues of Equity in Access and Uptake

“…In comparison, Smith et al (2018) found that approximately 64% of orchestra teachers across the United States identified as female. In Michigan, 58.6% of music teachers were female, but female teachers comprised only a minority (45.5%) of music teachers at the high school level (R. D. Shaw & Auletto, 2022). These studies disaggregated by state and/or music content area highlighted pertinent differences in the music teacher population that were unobservable in broad national analyses.…”

“…For example, several studies have estimated the percentage of music teachers identifying as White to range between 82% and 92%, a higher proportion than the general teacher population (Elpus, 2015a(Elpus, , 2022cGardner, 2010;Matthews & Koner, 2017). As with students, music teacher demographics varied based on state, grade level, and content area (Miller et al, 2021;R. D. Shaw & Auletto, 2022;Smith et al, 2018).…”

“…In comparison, Smith et al (2018) found that approximately 64% of orchestra teachers across the United States identified as female. In Michigan, 58.6% of music teachers were female, but female teachers comprised only a minority (45.5%) of music teachers at the high school level (R. D. Shaw & Auletto, 2022).…”

A Study of Music Education Curriculum Design and Evaluation from a Constructivist Perspective

“…Tahirbegi, D. explored the three main issues of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) and pointed out that increased personal skills practice and mental skills practice are beneficial in reducing anxiety, as well as adequate preparation plays a role [9]. Shaw, R. D. et al examined students' access to music education at the state level and found that access to music education, across the state, varies widely and consistently, which can inform the development of arts education policy by the relevant authorities [10]. Machado, J. et al presented a project to provide violin and viola lessons to low-income students in two schools in Erechim, southern Brazil, and discussed the factors influencing the students' social-emotional learning [11].…”

An Interactive Approach to an Immersive Multimedia-Based Online Course in Vocal Music

“…All along, the vocal course is the basic compulsory course for music majors, which is also a very important core course for music majors in education schools as well as music performance majors [1]. With the deepening of the basic education reform and the enrollment of music education majors continuing to expand, using professional colleges and universities' vocal class teaching mode and teaching methods of vocational schools found that these have not been able to meet the objectives of this institution's vocal class teaching, education colleges and universities of vocal teaching curriculum reform is an imperative trend [2][3].…”