Galvanizing Factors of Communities Applying to be One of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education"

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify those galvanizing factors that discriminate communities maintaining and promoting high-quality music programs from those communities that do not. Three of the communities visited were selected as winners of the NAMM Foundation’s "Best 100 Communities for Music Education" competition, and the other three applied but were not selected. The communities were paired based on size, urban/rural status, and SES. In each school district, the researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with music education teachers, school and district administrators, parents, and members of the community. The individual districts were responsible for the logistics of each visit, so the number and environment of the interviews and focus groups varied widely—from individual interviews in administrator offices to large focus groups under less-than-ideal conditions. The interviews and focus groups were recorded and transcribed. Some key points that surfaced include (a) the "100 Best Communities" competition tended to encompass school communities more than whole communities, and the researchers found themselves actually examining schools systems; (b) schooh who applied for the competition (even those who did not win) were from the higher end of the continuum (i.e., struggling music programs probably did not apply); (c) teachers from communities that were chosen believed that their school districts placed music programs on an even plane with athletics, whereas teachers from communities not chosen expressed that they perceived their programs to take a back seat to athletics; and (d) funding levels did matter. Within the communities chosen, the music teachers expressed that music programs were adequately funded.