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Urban Music Education: Debunking the Myths and Understanding the Realities


Misconceptions: My Story I began teaching music twenty years


ago at R.N. Harris Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina. I truly believe I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to teach at this school, which was the most challenging, yet one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. R.N. Harris was an urban school that was full of “contradictions” for being an urban school. For example, students excelled beyond standard academic expectations to the point that administrators from surrounding districts and states regularly observed our curricula. From this contradiction, I learned to never limit my students and predetermine their potential of success based on where they came from. Another contradiction: my concerts were full to capacity of parents cheering and supporting their children. As a result, I understood that minority low-income parents care and love their children as any other parent. My principal’s magnetic, yet strict personality galvanized teachers, empowered parents, and convinced students they could achieve anything because they were smart, gifted, and beautiful. From this, I developed the awareness that urban schools could be successful under great leadership. Such contradictions inspired me to propel past the “chatter” of typical expectations about teaching in an urban school and set my compass for the educator I am today. I also encountered some harsh realities


while teaching at R.N. Harris. I realized that life for many of my students were difficult, at best. I recognized that for many students school was more than a place to learn; it was often a place of refuge, a place to eat a meal (sometimes two), and a place of escape from the challenging conditions they survived every day. As I became more cognizant of such realities, I challenged myself to embrace the natural musical abilities they brought to class instead of assuming that they may be musically “stunted” due to their harsh realities.The joy and excitement my students expressed as they experienced new musical concepts and the graciousness they exhibited for the experiences are still fresh in my mind. Over the years, I taught music in suburban and rural settings, but to this day, my “love affair” with R.N. Harris Elementary School remains as powerful as the first time I entered the school as a new music teacher. Now, that I am in higher education, I


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feel my work with urban schools has come full circle. I have spent countless hours researching and writing about music education in urban schools. I have worked with preservice music teachers to prepare them for the classroom, most of which became music teachers in urban districts. I have worked with numerous teachers in urban districts in a variety of capacities to provide resources, tools and professional developments in order to enhance teacher effectiveness, and I have established several partnerships with large and small urban districts throughout the United States in effort to implement district-wide reform programs. Throughout my various experiences, I have encountered some of the “best of the best”: some of the best elementary, choral, and band teachers; some of the most musically gifted students; and some of the finest administrators. Unfortunately, with all the success and positive experiences I have witnessed through my work in urban schools, it is disheartening to still here the negative “chatter” of the low expectations of urban schools—the misconceptions continue and the myths abound, as a result.


It is not the intention of this article to


disregard the realities of the bureaucratic, societal, and cultural challenges such schools encounter. Urban schools are typically underfunded and under resourced and due to geographic location, primarily serve students from the lowest socioeconomic background and whose parents have comparatively low- levels of formal education (Haycock, 1998). Approximately 25% of urban school students are English Language Learners compared to only 8% in suburban schools; approximately 40% of students in urban schools receive services under Title I compared to 20% in suburban schools (Council of the Great City Schools, 2013). These are just a few of the challenges urban schools encounter. However, I hope we can stop allowing the realities of urban school to dictate our efforts to improve music education for children who attend these schools.


Unfortunately, there are myths and


misconceptions of urban education that have misdirected our critical response to find real solutions. In the remainder of the article, we will look at some of these myths and misconceptions about teaching music in urban schools. Over the years, I have questioned a


by Nicole R. Robinson, PhD Editor’s Note: This article appears as one of a series written especially for Ala Breve by experts in the field of music education.


few of these myths below. So for each urban education myth discussed, I will debunk the myth using a broad, general lens based in education research. I conclude each section with a specific music education transfer. The Achievement Gap and Access to Quality Education There is an undeniable academic


achievement gap between minority and disadvantaged students and their White counterparts. The greatest gap occurred during the 1970s with approximately a 50- percentile point difference in standardized test scores/academic achievement profiles between minority and White students. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the difference narrowed substantially by 30 points; however, in the mid-2000s, it increased again approximately 24-percentile points. There has been no real explanation for this gap, nor has there been any research-based evidence if there are inherent racial and ethnic differences in academic abilities. However, many suggest that the


achievement gap is contributed to by various external or environmental factors, or home- based and school-based factors. Home-based factors include, but are not limited to hunger and nutrition, parental involvement and availability, excessive television/media engagement, student mobility, environmental health risks (i.e., lead poisoning), reading skills, and birth weight. Such disparities typically exist between lower and higher income students. School-based factors may include teacher experience and attendance, technology assisted instruction, teaching preparation, school safety, and school size. These factors may have a greater impact on academic achievement (National Center for Education Progress, 2015). In addition to the academic achievement gap, other gaps exist between minority and disadvantage students and their White counterparts, as well: access to and enrollment in honor courses, gifted courses, advance placement courses; and enrollment in colleges, graduate, and professional programs (Ladson-Billings, 2006). However, Peske and Haycock (2006) state the connection to academic achievement is teacher quality: Poor, minority children don’t underachieve in school just because they often enter behind; but, also because the schools that are supposed to serve them actually


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