The Professional Development Of Music Educators In Massachsuetts Public Schools

The Professional Development of Music Educators in Massachusetts Public Schools By Andrew T. Garcia

At the Massachusetts Music Educator’s 2003 All-State Conference, Dr. Richard Colwell, arguably the most distinguished music education scholar of our time and editor of both Handbooks on Research on Music Teaching and Learning (1992, 2000) spoke about the perceived problem of professional development in music education. His claims are that professional development “as it is defined by the Massachusetts Department of Education does not 1-recognize the complexity of [professional development]; 2-it does not recognize the important issues facing teachers in all disciplines and 3-it does not specify minimum experiences that lead toward professional improvement….” In defining the problem he made three points: The first is that the definition of professional development is too broad (Renji, 1996a, 1996b; Sparks, 1994) giving it responsibility for too many critical issues. My second point is that subject matter competence must be a primary consideration, and the third point is that a different administrative structure is needed to monitor and approve all professional development.

He concluded his remarks by suggesting solutions to the second and third problem: “I’m arguing that mandatory professional development in one’s subject matter, like secondary band, be approved by an organization of subject matter specialists in the field like MICCA or a group in this audience….School districts are very different throughout the state. The performance standards appropriate for each should be established by MICCA {or other Music Agency} and local school personnel in conjunction with and outside music consultant.”.(Colwell, 2003)

As a member of the audience who heard Dr. Colwell’s remarks, I wondered what the consensus among those that were gathered was. Were they in agreement? Are there glaring problems with regard to music education professional development throughout the state? As music supervisor of my school district, I recognized some of these problems-especially the problem of over-generalizing professional development for ALL teachers and the subjective nature of administrative decisions that are made with regard to professional development. I knew that I had to seek meaningful professional development opportunities outside of my district and that I often incurred the expense of these. My attendance at the conference was an example. To pursue these questions and to get a better understanding of the nature of professional development of Music Teachers in Massachusetts public schools, I developed a survey. SURVEY PROCEDURE A survey was developed to acquire a specific understanding of professional development issues facing Massachusetts music teachers. Both broad and specific questions were asked. The survey was sent to 30 Music Teachers and was voluntary. It was conducted entirely via email. E-mail was chosen because of its ease of delivery and response. Survey participants were asked to simply supply their answers and e-mail the survey back. 14 complete responses were received in time to submit this study for publication. Once the surveys were received, responses were placed in tables by survey question so they could be displayed and analyzed. The survey questions are listed below. As this is study is ongoing, any MMEA member who would like to complete the survey is more than welcome to do so. Please mail completed surveys to: PD Survey, 969 Main St., Dalton, MA, 01226.

PARTICIPANT SNAPSHOT The participants were self-selected and represent a small percentage of all music educators in the state. While some responses are indicated in percentages it is important to point out that 10% represents one person only. 5 males and 6 females took part in the survey. 4 teach at the elementary level, 5 teach at the middle school level and 4 teach at the high school level (some

teachers teach at multiple levels). 5 teach general music, 5 teach instrumental music, 4 teach choral music, 2 teach music theory and history and 1 teaches music technology. The ages of teachers responding ranged from 25-56 and the years of teaching experience ranged from 1-30+ years. 2 teachers teach in urban school districts, 5 teach in suburban districts and 3 teach in rural districts. Overall, a wide variety was represented by survey respondents even if the number of respondents was low. THE SURVEY QUESTIONS 1Does your District support professional development related to your teaching assignment/subject area and your professional development needs? 6 of the participants indicated “yes” and 4 participants indicated, “No”. Not an overwhelmingly positive response! No additional information was provided to indicate the reasons for either response, however, the following questions are more specific. 2What topics do you feel are important in terms of your professional development? Responses were: •

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Standards-Based Curriculum Implementation of curriculum and standards Improving teaching and musicianship skills Music Computer Applications, Technology Recording Music Advocacy Classroom management, Curriculum development k-12 Conducting/ rehearsal techniques Arranging Current vocal methods and scientific research pertaining to vocal development.

These responses echo common themes in professional journals such as Music Educator’s Journal, The Journal for Research in Music Education, and the Journal or Music Teacher Education and the two Handbooks on Music Teaching and Learning. 3areas: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Please rate to what degree your District supports professional development in the following

Elementary General Music Methods Middle School General Music Instrumental Music Methods Instrumental Music Repair Instrumental Music Other (specify) Music Technology Choral Music (all levels) World/Multicultural Music Music History Music Theory Assessment (Music) Differentiated Learning and Classroom Management techniques Curriculum Mapping Integrating Music with other subjects Word Processing skills Internet uses in Music Learning Web Design for Music Educators

The majority of responses for Elementary General Methods Courses, Middle School General Music, Instrumental Music Methods and Instrumental Music Repair was “rarely” or “never”. These responses indicate that there is a shortage of specific, context-specific professional development happening in schools. Instrument repair was the least offered topic even though it is known to be a real need of band directors, in particular, new teachers (Conway, 2002). At least half of the respondents indicated that differentiated learning and internet-based professional development takes place regularly. Responses appear to indicate that broad-based professional development educational receive more support than subject-specific topics (Hussey, Estrada, Decker & Crawford, 1999; Newman, 1998; Olebe, 1999). 4Does your School District support self-directed professional development related to your teaching assignment/subject area? Responses to this question underscored the findings from question 3. Only 2 teachers indicate that the district “always” supported development in the specific teaching assignment. 4 indicated, “sometimes” and 4 indicated “rarely” or “never”. 5Does your school or district provide professional development opportunities specific to MUSIC teaching and learning? 80% responded, “yes” and 20% responded, “no.” One participant wrote the following: “Yes, only if you consider that these occur through my DEPARTMENT not trough general sessions sponsored by the school system. The system allows this to happen by providing dedicated K-12 Performing Arts meeting time throughout the year in which my whole department meets to learn or work on curriculum together.”

This statement suggests that specific professional development in music is best created and implemented by music departments themselves. I wondered how many other districts are free to do this. 6Please indicate what types of professional development opportunities your school district supports/offers. The responses were as follows: • • • • • • • • •

Sponsors or sends us to classes---50% Sponsors or sends us to workshops---70% Sponsors or sends us to conferences---70% Provides mentors: matches with experienced music teacher in district---50% Provides books and other printed material we can borrow---40% Has a resource center in school: web access, AV materials on teaching, newsletters---40% Allows time in school for professional learning, collaborating with colleagues, observing other teachers---30% Brings in speakers on teaching, music, learning, classroom issues---50% Encourages us to seek opportunities, even if they do not directly sponsor---60%

7If your school/district offers professional development opportunities, does the school/district contribute financially to the experience? 6 of 10 respondents indicated, “yes, some”. 3 indicated, “No, we pay for ourselves and 1 indicated “yes” and “no” with the following statement: “Sponsored professional development is fully paid for by the school system. Conferences are usually not paid for most teachers”

8How would you rate the professional development opportunities offered by your local District? Responses indicate that more than half of music teachers surveyed find district professional development to be only somewhat or not useful to their specific jobs as music specialists. These sentiments are reiterations of those shared above. 9Where do you/where have you received specific music-related professional development? The following sites were listed as professional development sites by respondents. They were quite varied but University programs and MENC/MMEA were frequently cited. MMEA MENC, All State, Mass insight education, Tanglewood, Self-directed studies ,AOSA, BAKE, AIME ,“Teachers As Scholars”, Boson area Kodaly Educators, Mentor Program, Observation Opportunities within District and in other Districts, Berklee college of Music, New England Conservatory, Lesley college, Norfolk county Teacher's Association, District Festivals, Northwestern University – summer fellows program and conducting symposiums, Univ. of Minn. Art of Wind Band Teaching seminar, University of Massachusetts-conducting symposia and “skillful teacher” program, NEC – Wind Ensemble week, SGMM offerings College courses, Univ. of Hartford, Visiting other School Music Programs, Milton Public Schools, Orff Workshop 10-

How would you rate your experience at these sites?

9 of the respondents (90%) indicate that their experience at these sites is extremely or quite useful. 1 respondent indicate that his/her experience was somewhat useful. The fact that such a high percentage of music teachers rate their experience at the sites highly appears to be related to the fact that they had opportunities to choose these experiences and they were related to their specific needs (Sikes, 2001;Conway, 2001) 11-

Does your School District support your attendance? In What ways? 2 participants responded, “no” to this question. The remaining “yes” responses indicated that their local district supports professional development in the following ways: -allow for professional days (4 responses) -offer release time (2 responses) -allow substitutes for observation opportunities (1 response) -reimburse for conferences (1 response) It would appear that school districts appear to support days off to attend conferences more than release time within the school day. Districts on the whole didn’t appear to support professional development financially beyond paying for a substitute in the teacher’s absence. 12When you seek professional development opportunities on your own, what types of activities do you seek? A common theme in all responses is the relevancy of the professional development opportunities to the teacher’s lives and careers (Goodson & Sikes, 2001; Sikes, 2001) as opposed to professional development on general education topics. For the remaining questions, the responses are listed as they appeared on the survey. There are varying opinions and experiences which are qualitatively distinct which is why I didn’t feel it would be possible to generalize about them. 13Briefly compare your professional development experiences at MENC/MMEA or other music-specific conferences with professional development provided by your District. •

“Totally different. Most MMEA conferences have short one or two-hour sessions. Most other Prof. Dev., I do courses over a semester or longer.”

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Music conferences and workshops geared towards the music educator are more relevant to the daily classroom routine of a music educator. I can use the ideas and materials I gather from these conferences right away in my classroom. I don't find the same is true with workshops that concentrate in non-music areas.” MENC/MMEA provide "quick hits" on topics at conferences--very brief sessions that only skate on the surface of the topic. The in-service that I am most drawn to takes time delivering a topic in depth. When I am on conference planning committees, I advocate for longer sessions so that people get familiar with a topic. I believe that we do our teachers injustice when we offer one-hour sessions on critical topics at conventions, expecting them to gain enough competence to go back to the trenches and perform with confidence and competence.” Professional development opportunities in my district are often more general and not musicoriented because of the small music staff (5 in the district) as compared to the experiences at MENC/MMEA which are more varied and in depth. “ My district allows me to plan the district provided professional development for my department which allows us to be subject specific. For example: last year we all learned to use Finale. This year we are all going to map our curriculum.” The district I was in was SUPPOSED to provide music PD for several surrounding school systems, besides our own. NOTHING took place. MENC regional and national events are OK – not always focused on teaching and learning. I don’t attend MMEA.” While the general structure of professional development workshops seems to be the same, the biggest difference is applicability. For instance, our district has been offering multiple sessions on utilizing PowerPoint as an instructional tool - while I can see some great uses, I don’t think this is as helpful as a session on music specific activities, or instrument repair, or something more pertinent to daily teaching life. “ The district doesn't provide actual experiences - they primarily enable us to seek these experiences elsewhere. “ MENC/MMEA offer relevant professional development. The school system does not.” Usually there is no comparison because my district has only provided non-music professional development up until this past year. Last year we had an Orff workshop (14 hours) and this year we will have a Kodaly workshop (14 hours). This has made a huge difference in our department's experiences in professional development.”

What is the most valuable professional development course/class/workshop that you have participated in related to your job as a music educator? Why was it valuable? All of the responses to this question had some relation to the teacher’s immediate music or teaching needs. For example, Kodaly training to become more effective especially with younger students and choral students, music technology workshops to become current in computer applications in music, and learning database programs such as Microsoft Access to organize vast amounts of information necessary to teach effectively. All felt their PD was valuable because of the specific need it met for them. 14-

15Do you think a Music Agency (independent from the State Department of Education) made up of Music Organizations and Music Educators should be established to oversee and provide Music Ed. Professional Development in Massachusetts? Why or Why Not? This question was included specifically because it was an implication of Dr. Colwell’s and I was interested in what music teachers had to say about the subject. In this sample, responses were equally divided (5 yes, 5 no). Reasons given for Yes responses: •

I think that this task could be handled by an existing organization, MAAE--MA Association for Arts Education. Why form yet another group?

•

Music (as well as each of the other Arts) is a specific area of education that is often forgotten when professional development opportunities are planned. I can remember many professional

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development inservice days in my district when I was lumped in with other subject area teachers in an activity that was largely unrelated to anything I would do in my music classes. Someone needs to be in charge, don’t they?

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Music organizations overseeing the PDP process would allow teachers to be involved in professional development that actually worked for them, all the time.

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I think public schools need to be made to service educators in all forms of the arts. Most of the workshops offered in my district pertain to academic classes and computer technology. Attempts have been made by dept. coordinators to bring in relevant professional development, but without the support of the remainder of the administration, it never seems to get off the ground. If there were an agency statewide dedicated to education in the fine arts, perhaps said agency could put on a little pressure.

Reasons given for No Responses (some simply said, “No” without giving a reason. • Different people and school systems have different needs which I do not think one organization could meet. Too centralized. Too many methodologies and teaching philosophies. •

I think that there should be a division of the State Dept. of Ed that oversees the professional development of music (arts) educators to establish the validity of professional development sources (see question 13). An organization that operates outside the Dept of Ed (however cumbersome the Dept of Ed may be) should have no control over state certified music teachers.

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I think MMEA provides plenty of guidance for professional development. One more agency will just serve to put more controls on teachers and stifle creative endeavors for professionals. I just wouldn't trust anything set up in Massachusetts because the DOE would get involved and it would be a joke. Somehow or other, we all get a chance to see who does and who does not at All State and District, and we pick and choose our clinicians by what we experience. Sorry I don't trust our politicians or DOErs, but I've been there, done that.

16Would you support such an agency establishing professional development and competency standards for Music Educators? Responses were, 7 “yes”, 2 “no” and one “no response” One particularly potent “yes” point was: Because principals are often the person assessing the music teacher, and because ideas of what is "good" music teaching widely vary. I also think it is difficult for the principal to really assess if the music teacher is doing a good job. I have often felt that assessment has been largely based on classroom management, not on concepts begin taught. I think competency standards, developed by an agency that understands music teaching are an outstanding idea. Music teachers would all be held to the same standards. This organization could then develop professional development in a way that supports the standards. Right now what educators do for professional development is so unstructured, and only sometimes actually benefits their teaching. This comment makes several points that are supported in the research on (the problems of) professional development (Conway, 2001, in particular). One particularly potent, “no” response was: “It would highly depend who was on such a committee. I look upon this task as really walking on thin ice. For example, the MENC National Teacher Certification is a joke. They make people go through hoops to obtain, yet I have seen people who have achieved this national certification who I know to be extremely weak musicians. Such things then become meaningless and discourage quality people from even wanting to obtain such certification.”

This point underscores the problem of what makes up good professional development? What standards are worth including? What does it mean to be competent? How is it assessed? These problems have also surfaced in some writing about teaching in other subject areas as well. 17Please comment on ANY aspect of professional development as it relates to music education and your own experiences as a Massachusetts Music Educator. Most comments reiterated points already made above and one, in particular, summed up the problem for many of the participants of this survey: “Our professional development occurs on half days provided by the district. We are required to attend. I guess my thoughts on this are…. •

If Iam required to be there, please provide me with an opportunity for growth. Otherwise, it's a colossal waste of time. • Allow me to use that development time in pursuit of my own development rather than requiring me to attend workshops that have nothing to do with my teaching situation. • Maybe help financially support workshops outside of the district or college classes, as financial restrictions can keep educators from getting the development they need. • It also would be nice if there were time built into the school day when colleagues can meet and discuss, or observe one another's teaching.”

SUMMARY Music teachers have specific, unique professional development needs that differ from the broad population of subject-matter teachers. School districts should provide professional development for music educator’s that is context-specific. Taken as a whole the responses to the survey support research indicating that professional development opportunities offered by schools and school districts do not often match the actual ongoing needs of music teachers. Despite knowledge and a desire for the contrary, school districts in Massachusetts appear to offer short-term, broad-based opportunities rather than professional development as a process that takes place on a continual basis within the teaching setting and context. Teachers have had to seek opportunities on their own. This problem is not new. It is still relatively unknown how in-service teachers in music and other subject areas learn and apply their own learning (Scribner, 1999) but teachers do understand clearly what counts for effective professional development. The responses above, while taken from a small sample, prove the point. The needs of an elementary general music teacher are different from a high school band director. The needs of a middle school choral director are different from a music technology lab specialist, etc. Also, the needs of a first year teacher are vastly different for a th teacher in his or her 20 year. The professional development problem in music education exists because of the complexity involved in meeting the needs of teachers within each of the music disciplines, at all grade levels and at all stages in a teacher’s career-a complexity not always fully appreciated by local school districts. As the survey only represents a pilot study, further investigation of the problem is recommended. Still, as a stating point, potential issues pertaining to professional development in music education in Massachusetts public schools have been specifically identified by the participants of this study. These issues validate literature critical of traditional professional practices and specifically Dr. Colwell’s (2003) comments. Whether or not an entity such as MICCA, MENC, AIME, or another group is willing to take up the challenge of assuming a leadership role in organizing the professional development activities of music educators remains to be seen. Colwell’s comments still reverberate: “………it will be a formidable task for any organization.”

References Conway, C. (2002). Perceptions of beginning teachers’ their mentors, and administrators regarding preservice music teacher preparation. Journal of Research in Music Education, 50((1), pp20-36.

Colwell, R.J., (Ed.) Handbook of research on music teaching and learning. New York: Schirmer Books. Colwell, R.J, & Richardson, C. (Eds.), New handbook of research on music teaching and learning: a project of the music educator’s national conference. New York: Schirmer Books. Colwell, R (2003) Remarks made at MMEA 2003 All-State Conference, March 21, 2003. Published in Massachusetts Music News, 51(6), p.45. Goodson, I. & Sikes, P. (2001) Life History in Educational Settings: Learning From Lives, Buckingham, Open University Press Hussey, K., Estrada, N., Decker, D., & Crawford,S. (1999). How much time should teachers devote to professional development? Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 70(7), 12-13. Newman, J. (1998). We can’t get there from here. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(4), 288-296. Olebe, M. (1999). California formative assessment and support system for teachers (CFASST): Investing in teachers’ professional development. Teaching and Change, 6(3), 258-271. Renyi, J. (1996a). Finding the time to build professional development into the life of schools. In Teachers take charge of their learning: Transforming professional development for student success (pp. 11-20). Washington, DC: National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. Renyi, J. (1996b, November 13). The longest reform. Education Week on the Web [Online]. Available: http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-16/11renyi.h16 Scribner, J. (1999). Professional development: untangling the influence of work context on teacher learning. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35(2), 238-266. Sikes, P. (2001) 'Teachers' lives and teaching performance. In Gellson, D. & Husbands, C. The Performing School, London: Routledge, Falmer, pp. 55-77 Sparks, D. (1994). Time for learning: A view from the national level. Professional Development: Changing Times (NCREL Policy Brief, report no. 4) [Online]. Available: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/pbriefs/94/94-4sprk.htm