Research Work

What are the factors affecting minority students participation in music education programs? This question is crucial because there was never a focus on ethnicity in my 20 years of experience as a music educator. There is a trend in the participation levels, in urban school music programs, of predominantly minority schools compared to those music programs which are majority Caucasian. There is a significant decline in student participation, in minority high school music programs. Based on research, there are key factors causing this decline. In an attempt to reveal those factors affecting the participation of minority students in urban school music programs, the following factors are of interest; socio-economic status, family background, teacher effectiveness, and equal access to fine arts programs. Socio-economic status can be a factor affecting the participation of minority students in urban public school music programs. Chappell and Costa-Gioma (2007) conducted a study of the fifth largest school district located in central Texas. Their study revealed the effects of socio-economic status (SES) on minority student’s participation in music programs. In describing the term, lower socio-economic status, this indicates students profiled by the State of Texas as economically disadvantaged. At the time of the study, the school district served about 80,000 students, and the estimated minority student population was almost 71%, with 53% identified as economically disadvantaged. The band directors participating in the study completed a questionnaire pertaining to characteristics of their middle and high school band programs. The completed questionnaires exposed information about students taking private music lessons, band financial resources, fees, and band budgets. Although all band directors did not participate in completing the questionnaire, placement of participating band directors’ schools resulted in categorization of three groups. The categorization of these

References: Chappell, Elizabeth and Costa-Gioma, Eugenia (2007). Characteristics of Band Programs In A Large Urban School District: Diversity Or Inequality. Journal of Band Research, Vol. 42, No.2. Dryver, Michael H Watts, M., Doane, C., and Fekete, G. (1994). Minority Students in the Music Performance Program. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida. http://music.arts.usf.edu/rpme/minority.htm. Wheelhouse, Patricia A., (2009) Monday, December 10, 2012