On the quality of professional development in the United States: Examining music educators’ experiences, sentiments, and emotions

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable assessment tool to measure music educators’ participation in and perceptions of their high-quality professional development (PD) experiences. A sample of 450 in-service music educators across the United States completed a 78-item rating scale embedded within 10 domains reflecting high-quality PD criteria: (a) content, (b) evidence/research, (c) coherence, (d) relevance, (e) active learning, (f) application, (g) collaboration, (h) reflection, (i) feedback, and (j) duration. Participants also answered the open-ended question, “What are some adjectives you would use to describe your overall professional development experiences?” Data were analyzed using Rasch measurement analyses and sentiment analyses. Results indicated an overall acceptable data-to-model fit, with the content domain reflecting most participation and the duration domain reflecting least participation. Bias analyses suggested that music educators received systematically different quality PD experiences based upon their teaching area and/or grade-level emphases. Participants had an overall positive sentiment of their PD experiences, which positively correlates with the level of quality PD they experienced ( r = 0.42, p < .05). The most frequent emotions of the participants were trust and joy. Implications for the development and programming of PD in the field of music education are discussed.

Professional Development Among U.S. Music and Non-Music Teachers: Comparative Evidence From the 2017–2018 National Teacher and Principal Survey

“…Scholars have held that PD ought to be musical, grounded in teachers' school contexts, involve teachers in social exchange with their peers, be supported by and aligned with school and district policy, and take place over extended periods of time (e.g., Barrett, 2006;Bautista et al, 2017;NAFME, 2015;Stanley et al, 2014;West, 2021;West & Bautista, 2022). Qualitative and quantitative evidence suggests that music teachers are likelier to engage in PD that meets these effectiveness standards (Wesolowski et al, 2022;West, 2020). Accounts of such PD are ample in the literature.…”