Barriers to Access and University Schools of Music: A Collective Case Study of Urban High School Students of Color and Their Teachers

Abstract

Although there are benefits to a racially and culturally diverse teaching workforce, the music teaching profession remains predominantly White. Using an “opportunity gap” framework, this study aimed to discover what, if any, barriers to access to applying to university schools of music—a first step in becoming music teachers—exist according to high school students of color and their music teachers. Employing a collective case study methodology, the researchers observed classes, interviewed music teachers, and conducted focus groups in two high schools in a city in the northeast United States. Findings suggest that the teachers and students valued high standards, and they found local culture and community engagement to be an important aspect of their music education. However, ultimately students did not want to audition or found the process difficult for the following reasons: the audition process did not align with students’ values of community music making; there is an assumption that auditioning students have participated in prerequisite activities, including private instruction and honors ensembles; students did not possess knowledge of the unspoken rules of audition procedures; and participants found the university requirements, including nonmusic standards and transitioning to college, to be difficult. Based on these findings, changes to the audition and recruitment processes, including community engagement, are proposed.

Experiences of Preservice Music Teachers at Minority Serving Institutions

“…I used an intrinsic case study to investigate senior preservice music teacher experiences at MSIs (Stake, 1995). My main goal was to build on the previous work of researchers who explored preservice music teacher preparation more broadly (Abramo & Bernard, 2020; Conway et al, 2010; Elpus, 2015; Gavin, 2016), while offering the experiences of preservice music teachers that attend institutions specializing in the training of music teacher candidates from underrepresented populations, toward potential increased recruitment and preparation of minority music teachers (Frierson-Campbell et al, 2020; Robison et al, 2020).…”

“…Music teacher education programs have been seeking ways to address the need for a more diverse PreK–12 music teacher workforce. Music education researchers have investigated what could be done to attract more students from diverse backgrounds into music teacher education programs (Abramo & Bernard, 2020; Robison et al, 2020). However, recent findings indicate a widening gap between the diversity of America’s students and that of the teacher workforce (Elpus, 2015; National Center for Education Statistics, 2019).…”

“…Despite efforts toward diversifying the music teacher workforce, there remains a significant disparity between the demographic makeup of music teacher candidates and the students they will eventually teach (Abramo & Bernard, 2020; Elpus, 2015). Milner and Howard (2013) posited that inservice teachers from underrepresented groups may be able to share unique approaches to recruiting and retaining students from these populations.…”

On Demographics, Diversity, and Democracy

“…Are music teacher educators unwilling to challenge policies and practices that clearly perpetuate inequities in systematic ways? Or do they lack familiarity with the recent scholarship on music teacher diversity and the efforts of researchers to unpack a web of complexities underlying minority music teacher recruitment, licensing, hiring, mentoring, and retention (e.g., Abramo & Bernard, 2020; Clements, 2009; DeLorenzo & Silverman, 2016; Fitzpatrick et al, 2014; Palmer, 2011)? Perhaps there is a bit of both at work.…”

Successful urban elementary music educators : a phenomenological investigation

“…Despite the advantages of a racially and culturally diverse teacher population, the music education workforce, students, and faculty of music departments that prepare these new teachers remain predominantly White (Abramo & Bernard, 2020). The majority of pre-service teachers are White, female, and middle class, from small towns or suburbs, having limited diversity experiences and negative attitudes and beliefs about people who differ from themselves; these attributes may have a negative impact on teacher expectations (Kindall-Smith et al, 2011).…”