Research and School/ Community Partnerships
Phillip Hash
Numerous opportunities exist for school/ community partnerships in music includ- ing educational performances through local symphony orchestras, guest artists in schools, and composers in residence programs, just to name a few. Partnerships such as these have the potential to enrich the curriculum and supplement the expertise of music specialists, but usually involve some financial cost in the form of honorariums, transportation, or sup- plies. The cost of supplemental music experi- ences, both in terms of money and instruction time, usually requires teachers to justify their implementation within the school curriculum. Research and assessment can provide data that demonstrate the effectiveness of such programs to administrators and other decision makers.
I found a limited number of studies that mea- sured the effectiveness of school/community partnerships. However, there are examples examining the educational programs of sym- phony orchestras that could provide a model for studies within school districts or among larger populations. In these cases, we can think of assessment and research as one in the same. In addition to measuring learning of individual students, stakeholders can use data on student growth in relation to school/community part- nerships to advocate for and make decisions about their implementation, modification, and continuation.
Symphony Orchestras Partnerships: The Arts in Community Education (ACE) partner- ship of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra began with kindergarten classrooms in 1991 and added one grade level per year until 2000, when 7,200 K-8 students participated in the program. Each grade level had its own goals and themes that were the focus of an integrated curriculum including “The Family of Music” (K), “Musical Tales” (gr. 1), “ACE Detectives” (gr. 2), “Children of Wisconsin, Children of the World: Explorers” (gr. 3), “Children of Wisconsin, Children of the World: Ethnogra-
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phers” (gr. 4), and “Inventors” (gr. 5). Middle school themes (gr. 6-8) were developed for each school around a topic created in tandem by teachers and arts partners. The program involved three in-school performing artist pre- sentations, an early evening in-school family program, and a concert performed at the local performing arts center. Students demonstrated their learning through group projects intended to build on previous knowledge through the process of reviewing, producing, rehearsing, and reflecting on their work. Assessment of student learning through the final projects involved the use of a scoring rubric, a review of written documentation, and examples of student work. Data indicated that the pro- gram a) developed students’ ability to connect concepts from the grade level themes to other content areas and in new contexts, and b) cre- ated an environment that encouraged students to take ownership of their work, volunteer, take risks, and demonstrate their learning through a variety of intelligences and learning styles (DeNardo, 1997, 2001).
Orchestra/school partnerships also can increase students’ interest in instrumental music. Abeles (2004) examined the effect of three programs on students’ interest in music using the Voca- tional Choice Scale (Cutietta, 1995, as cited by Abeles). Partnership 1 involved school music specialists and local orchestral musicians teaching Suzuki violin to classrooms of second graders. They supplemented instruction with in-class performances by the local musicians and concerts by the full orchestra. Partnership 2 provided in-school performances of a cham- ber orchestra and small ensembles, which also included instrument demonstrations, discus- sions, participatory activities, and prewritten lessons implemented by classroom teachers. Partnership 3 involved collaboration between a group of five urban and suburban elementary schools and an orchestra in a large city in the Midwest. Although this partnership primar- ily was designed to help classroom teachers
Research
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