Donna Gallo

Professional Development Quality in U.S. Music Education: An Analysis of the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey.

The purpose of this study was to compare differences in the quality of professional development between U.S. music educators and teachers of other disciplines. Data were drawn from the 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. Factors such as types of professional development, quantity of activities, and levels of satisfaction were analyzed through a series of multiple regressions to determine the relationships between professional development quality for teachers of music and non-music disciplines. Results indicated that music educators were significantly less likely to collaborate with other educators on issues of instruction and engaged in significantly less technology-related professional activity; however, music educators reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with content-specific professional activity and engaged in significantly more content-specific activity than some higher-stakes disciplines. In light of educational policies and trends, the common assumption that music educators are generally less supported within their schools does not hold true. Implications of this study include the need for music educators to participate in more collaborative forms of professional development. This study also suggests that all educators should receive more time spent in professional learning congruent to the level of engagement espoused by research literature.

The effects of group free improvisation instruction on improvisation achievement and improvisation confidence

While improvisation in K-12 schools in the USA has gained some traction since the inception of the US National Standards in 1994, there is still a dearth of improvisation activities in schools because of the lack of music teacher preparation in improvisation. The purpose of this study was to determine if providing group free improvisation instruction and activities to collegiate non-music majors would help them become better and more confident improvisers. An additional purpose was to examine the relationship between improvisation achievement and selected variables. A repeated measures design was utilised to test improvisation achievement through solo improvisations of college non-music majors enrolled in a free improvisation class. There was no statistical difference in improvisation achievement by time of solo recording; however, improvisation confidence improved over time. Improvisation confidence was correlated with risk-taking personality as well as a pretest self-assessment of improvisation comfort. The findings are discussed in relation to improving improvisation confidence among future music teachers in order to expand more improvisation activities in US K-12 schools.